Sri Lanka vs England 2012

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Mathews back in Sri Lanka squad Sri Lanka name all-rounder Angelo Mathews in the squad for Monday's final Test against England but he is not fit enough to bowl. More...

[J P K]

I know people were discussing the tactics I used in the second innings by putting fielders deep to cut off the boundaries. If we had lost I would probably have been criticised for being defensive, but I couldn't let the game run away from us Mahela Jayawardene

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Panesar place under threat for second Test Monty Panesar could find himself back on the sidelines as England try to balance their side in their attempt to level the series against Sri Lanka More... England in Sri Lanka 2011-12 Panesar place under threat for second Test Andrew McGlashan in Colombo April 1, 2012 Little more than two months after his successful return to Test cricket, Monty Panesar could find himself back on the sidelines as England try to balance their side in their attempt to level the series against Sri Lanka. The injury that has forced Stuart Broad to leave the tour ahead of the second Test in Colombo has created another selection dilemma because his likely replacement, Steven Finn, lacks his batting strength while Tim Bresnan, the other quick bowler in the squad, has not had enough cricket in recent months to be fielded as one of a two-man pace attack. Jonathan Trott admitted it would not be a simple decision for the selectors. "Finny has been working hard on his batting so we should give him some credit," he said. "But obviously Stuart is very good as a bowling allrounder and adds that dynamic to the team." Panesar bowled far from poorly in Galle but did not pose the same threat as he had done against Pakistan in the UAE. That was partly because the Sri Lankans, especially Mahela Jayawardene, made a conscious effort to lead with their bat rather than the pad so limiting the likelihood of lbws. In the first innings, Panesar did a good holding job - conceding less than two an over - but had to wait until midway through Sri Lanka's second innings to claim a wicket and ended with 2 for 59. Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka's left-arm spinner, by comparison had career-best match figures of 12 for 171 and showed the value of variations in pace and flight whereas Panesar's mode of attack was more predictable. Graeme Swann, meanwhile, starred in the second innings with 6 for 82 to cement his standing as England's lead spinner. Panesar also did himself no favours with a poor fielding display when he dropped Jayawardene twice in consecutive overs during the latter stages of his 180. The first, a top-edged hook to fine leg, came out of a low sun and was less simple than it appeared but the second, which looped to him at mid-on, was an embarrassing drop. During training on Sunday, Panesar held the half-dozen catches given by Richard Halsall, the assistant coach, but nothing can replicate the pressure of a match situation. Samit Patel's Test debut in Galle amounted to 11 runs and two wickets and the suggestion that he should retain his place ahead of the specialist bowler sounds at odds with the needs of England who must win to level the series therefore making 20 wickets a priority. However, taking 20 wickets has not been their problem this year; scoring runs has. If Patel was omitted in favour of Bresnan it would leave Graeme Swann at No. 8 followed by three bowlers - Finn, Panesar and James Anderson - who do not offer a huge amount with the bat. There is one other option which involves bringing in Ravi Bopara as a specialist batsman and playing four frontline bowlers if Bopara's batting is viewed as substantially superior to Patel's. But England's need for a fifth bowler in these conditions has not disappeared. There were few clues during England's net session on Sunday although Kevin Pietersen did bowl more than he often does on practice days. The P Sara Oval groundsman, NS Silva, has said he thinks the match will go five days but England have not achieved that on their recent travels. There have been 11 results from the 15 Tests played at the venue, the last of which was in August 2010, when India chased down 257. Suraj Randiv took nine wickets in that match and spin has a good record at the ground. That still might not be enough for Panesar.

[lameduck]

SL need to show the door to helpless players. Thirimanne is not ready yet. Upul Tharanga should be playing test cricket at his age. He's getting older and older and will never get a chance.

[cameron_black]

SL need to show the door to helpless players. Thirimanne is not ready yet. Upul Tharanga should be playing test cricket at his age. He's getting older and older and will never get a chance.

lol upul tharanga? he's never been test material and never will be. his technique is not sound enough to handle the red ball, especially when it's new. hell he couldn't even handle the white ball when it started to do things in AUS. sad to see thirimanne failing so much coz he seemed to have potential. i think they'll turn back to paranavitana.

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Swann targeting big England lead Graeme Swann calls on England to bat Sri Lanka out of the second Test in Colombo as the tourists close day two on 154-1. More...

[Crookbond]

Pietersen warned for switch hit http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-england-2012/content/current/story/559931.html Two interesting points

An ICC statement in May 2010 said: "The ICC Cricket Committee adopted the updated directive introduced earlier in the year which prevents the batsman from altering his grip or stance before the bowler enters his delivery stride. Should the bowler see a batsman change his grip or stance prior to the delivery stride the bowler can decide not to bowl the ball."

Switch hit is almost selling a dummy to the bowlers. If switch hit is allowed, so should be switch arm (bowling with a different arm than notifying to the batsman).

Andy Flower, the England team director, immediately went to the match referee's room for clarification over the issue, his second visit of the match following his questioning of a review against Thilan Samaraweera on the first day.

Andy Flower has made it a habit of going "for a visitation". Probably, he should visit a psychiatrist over this. I'm not sure what the ICC guidelines are for the support staff and coach but this kind of behavior should be discouraged. Ian Bell run out, Pakistan UAE (Hot Spot issue), now again in Sri Lanka. Is it just me or anyone else find such "visits" as dissent?

[akshayxyz]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-england-2012/content/current/story/559931.html Two interesting points Switch hit is almost selling a dummy to the bowlers. If switch hit is allowed, so should be switch arm (bowling with a different arm than notifying to the batsman). Andy Flower has made it a habit of going "for a visitation". Probably, he should visit a psychiatrist over this. I'm not sure what the ICC guidelines are for the support staff and coach but this kind of behavior should be discouraged. Ian Bell run out, Pakistan UAE (Hot Spot issue), now again in Sri Lanka. Is it just me or anyone else find such "visits" as dissent?

I am all for switch hit. I do not see it much different from reverse sweep. Both are equally deceptive and risky (for the batsman). But switch arm bowling will be extremely difficult, bowling involves synchronizing steps too, so it will take insane amount of practice/skill to pull off something like that. And yes I agree, Andy Flower is developing into a bigger whiner than Sanga.

[Ultimate_Game]

Point 1 regarding switch hit: Let it be in the game and no need to penalize it. However, a simple rule change needs to be made, i.e. ball pitching outside the leg stump should be taken out in such an instance. Reason for the same is that when a batsman is taking the strike he's naturally a right-hander (taking KP as an example) but when he switch hits he gets into the position of a left hander so the leg stump in nutshell becomes off for him. Thus, if you are a bowler you should not be penalized for ball pitching outside leg in case of a LBW appeal since you already have a disadvantage of the batsman making the most of the field settings which was set for a right hander. This simple tweak will even the contest IMO. Point 2 regarding Flower: It's funny to even think what the English and Aussie media would have done had an Indian coach or captain acted in such a manner. This is what I call hypocrisy at its best. Every game you see Flower more in the match ref's room complaining about one thing or the other than in the English dressing room. And when India toured Eng he went one better - he even managed to enter India's dressing room as well begging to let Bell bat. I wish Dhoni or Fletcher had simply shut the door on his face.

[achilles]

Firstly, it is the right way forward. Secondly, Andy Flower is a whiner.

[Utalk]

It's a brown conspiracy against the best team. Rauf and Srinath should be sacked.

[The Outsider]

A bowler has to declare whether he will be bowling over or round the stumps beforehand - it's only fair a similar rule applies to the batsman. Even if they have to make it legal, the leg before law should be applied as if it's to a left hand batsman - it's ridiculous to have a leg before rule applicable for right hand batsmen when the batsman is playing with the opposite hand.

[Sidhoni]

I posted this before in the match thread and i am saying this again now, that if they wanted to make it illegal, then it should have been some years earlier when he first used it, whats the use of warning him on Day 3 of a test match?

[Cricket Tragic]

I posted this before in the match thread and i am saying this again now' date=' [b']that if they wanted to make it illegal, then it should have been some years earlier when he first used it, whats the use of warning him on Day 3 of a test match?

Read the OP brah.

[Crookbond]

Point 1 regarding switch hit: Let it be in the game and no need to penalize it. However, a simple rule change needs to be made, i.e. ball pitching outside the leg stump should be taken out in such an instance. Reason for the same is that when a batsman is taking the strike he's naturally a right-hander (taking KP as an example) but when he switch hits he gets into the position of a left hander so the leg stump in nutshell becomes off for him. Thus, if you are a bowler you should not be penalized for ball pitching outside leg in case of a LBW appeal since you already have a disadvantage of the batsman making the most of the field settings which was set for a right hander. This simple tweak will even the contest IMO.

The LBW rule certainly I agree. I think it's just really unfair in the current format. The current law states that a batsman can't change his grip before the bowl is delivered which still isn't coming to the point IMHO. I'm also not sure why is there a need for "warning". It's a rule; you know it before and you don't do it. If you do it; you're penalized. It's international sport for FFS!

Point 2 regarding Flower: It's funny to even think what the English and Aussie media would have done had an Indian coach or captain acted in such a manner. This is what I call hypocrisy at its best. Every game you see Flower more in the match ref's room complaining about one thing or the other than in the English dressing room. And when India toured Eng he went one better - he even managed to enter India's dressing room as well begging to let Bell bat. I wish Dhoni or Fletcher had simply shut the door on his face.

It's not just once that Flower has done this. If I'm not wrong, he's done that alteast once in the past three series. I find it very annoying and he has no business getting into these 'visitations'.

[SLICKR392]

If the batsmen can switch, then I don't see why the bowlers can't chuck. And what shyte was Beefy baffling about in the commentary box?

[Crookbond]

Switch is a hit

As the law stands, a batsman should not be given out lbw if the ball pitches outside leg stump. A simple change to that law, effectively taking the leg-stump advantage away from the batsman would even it up. Thus, if you choose to switch hit you forego your leg stump and can be lbw if you are hit between wicket and wicket either way round.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/559964.html

[Sir john]

dilshan fined 10 % of match fee for excessive appeal by ICC :--D

[Crookbond]

The incident which brought the charge occurred at 88.2 overs, when Dilshan appealed for a bat-pad catch at short leg against Jonathan Trott. The ICC statement said Dilshan ran through in celebration before a decision was given, then turned around and appealed repeatedly.

[achilles]

This is like daily work for Stuart Broad. I think this is a touch unfair.