Eng vs SL: First Test

[Big Daddy]

I disagree - its been very easy for them. Could have been a lot harder

i kno those 8 catches are a damper, but inspite of that england didnt bite their fate, they are still putting up the resistance, people of lesser heart would have been in their shell by now

 

[Hash]

Bad light - they go off.

Has to be a draw now.

Moral victory to Eng - they have to do much much better come next test match.

yaar kya?

Moral victory has to be Sri Lankas!

 

[Oxy]

yaar kya?

Moral victory has to be Sri Lankas!

I edited within 10 secs - you were too quick to quote yaar!

 

[HAFRIDI]

Oxy is on crack

 

[Easa]

Not over yet.

If England come out again and get a wicket in the next 3 overs, 180 can be made in 20 overs with some beastly hitting by Freddie and KP.

Would be great to see them open together.

 

[HAFRIDI]

I hope they do come out !!

 

[Big Daddy]

yaar kya?

Moral victory has to be Sri Lankas!

i disagree, lankans dodged a bullet here, they will have their backs to the wall come the next match, their bowling was skinned to the core, their batting is suspect, 9 out of 10 times u would expect this lankan outfit to crap their pants once they see a total beyond 400. plus its not everyday england will floor 9 catches. so if u think lankans will chug it tonite, then think again.

 

[Hash]

i disagree, lankans dodged a bullet here, they will have their backs to the wall come the next match, their bowling was skinned to the core, their batting is suspect, 9 out of 10 times u would expect this lankan outfit to crap their pants once they see a total beyond 400. plus its not everyday england will floor 9 catches. so if u think lankans will chug it tonite, then think again.

Take a look at the score after the 1st innings of this match. Then, take a look at the result. Then tell me which side is leaving Lords the happier.

If you think it is England, I seriously suggest you think again

 

[Oxy]

Wouldnt it be great if Pak could be playing Eng NEXT WEEK after this shambles of a result for them!

 

[James]

Wouldnt it be great if Pak could be playing Eng NEXT WEEK after this shambles of a result for them!

Would probably not be great for Pak at all - England can be rampant after a bad result. Mumbai, Edgbaston, Johannesburg etc.

I expect much better fielding at Edgbaston, and more imagination from Flintoff who has a point to prove after some Ponting-esque captaincy in this game. For once, our batting was our best thing in the match )

 

[Big Daddy]

Take a look at the score after the 1st innings of this match. Then, take a look at the result. Then tell me which side is leaving Lords the happier.

If you think it is England, I seriously suggest you think again

any team that drops 9 catches cannot bow out happy, its simple as that, but:

how many times do u think this english team is going to drop 9 catches again

how many times do u think this lankan team can score 400 plus second time round

do u think the lankan bowling has any enough bite to roll out england twice?

eventhough lankans drew this test, and they may well be go home happy as a result, but what part of their performance today excudes confidence? if none then its england with whoom rests the initative , its england who walks out with the moral victory.

everyone is forgetting this fact, lankans were challanged all the way to make england bat twice, england didnt even bat all the way, with their run machine fully lubricated, i think its the lankans who will have issues.

 

[Hash]

BD- you are only talking about ifs and buts.

I am talking about the FACTS. This draw will seem like a defeat for England because of the way they threw it away. It will seam like a victory for the Lankans because of the way they fought back after being down and out.

Result.....draw

But the moral victory is certainly Sri Lanka's. In fact, it absolutely amazes me that anyone would think differently.

 

[James]

Agree with points from both sides here - SL have the moral victory but that kind of England fielding performance...hell, that kind of fielding performance from ANY test team will come along very rarely. Law of averages.

Like I've said, I expect different things in the 2nd test.

I would be very disappointed if we didn't win this series, I know we are good enough to beat Sri Lanka. As lame as getting beaten/held to a draw when you should have won is, at least if it's by the Aussies or something like that, you know they're better than you anyway and you can swallow it easier.

If we were going to have one absolute shocker of a day this summer though, I would have rather this came against SL than Pak. SL will offer more opportunities for us to get into winning positions in this series, while Pak are different class.

 

[Big Daddy]

BD- you are only talking about ifs and buts.

I am talking about the FACTS. This draw will seem like a defeat for England because of the way they threw it away. It will seam like a victory for the Lankans because of the way they fought back after being down and out.

Result.....draw

But the moral victory is certainly Sri Lanka's. In fact, it absolutely amazes me that anyone would think differently.

hash do u honestly think based on this test match's performance , lankans will have their tail up for the second test match ? do u honestly think based on their second innings performance them lankans would think that all their bases covered. coz personally i think england were just one screw away from burying them lankans in this test .

england were playing test cricket after a bit of a lapse hence they were a bit rusty. thats all to it.

p.s please tell me this, how do u define the word moral victory and how important is it come the next match.

 

[Oxy]

Despite all that I have seen in this test match - Eng should have the beating of SL.

I know I say SL 'won on points' - but it wont save them in the next test. I cannot imagine the likes of Strauss, Freddie and Mr 3-0 dropping 10 catches between them ever agin!

 

[HAFRIDI]

I can say this, Sri Lanka have got the confidence under the belts, they know they are capable of huge scores and surely that would be a good thing.

Eng were rusty, fair enough, but surely that 1st innings by Sri Lanka was just a collapse as they proved in the 2nd innngs they can frustrate the opposition, they wont read too much into it imo.

Also, its not always u get a decent first innings score like England did, so Sri Lanka will look at it as a one off.

 

[James]

I think we can all agree that this was a strange game and Thursday at Birmingham will be a clean slate.

 

[Uzzy]

Has the presentation started/ended yet?

 

[HAFRIDI]

I think we can all agree that this was a strange game and Thursday at Birmingham will be a clean slate.

This sure has spiced things up though.

The greatest thing about playing cricket in England, even the most boring of teams come to light.

 

[Big Daddy]

I can say this, Sri Lanka have got the confidence under the belts, they know they are capable of huge scores and surely that would be a good thing.

Eng were rusty, fair enough, but surely that 1st innings by Sri Lanka was just a collapse as they proved in the 2nd innngs they can frustrate the opposition, they wont read too much into it imo.

Also, its not always u get a decent first innings score like England did, so Sri Lanka will look at it as a one off.

i would like to agree with u but the question remains that ever since the lankans set foot on english soil for this tour, their performances with the bat have been anything but ordinary. for all u kno the english team could well be saying this lankan resistance was a one off, to put a nail into this argument, this one off lankan performance is a direct result of 9 dropped catches, now if that aint one off then nothing is. u take them 9 drops out of the equation and even ud join the choir , singing these words

what lankan resisitance?


p.s. if u must kno, lankans and indians share a common blood line, they trace their roots all the way to MR tigersathome panziesabroad..

 

[James]

It's good for cricket and means the series will be alive for the last test.

Who should get MotM? Jayawardene IMO. Played well in both innings and led by example in the 2nd innings with a superb hundred, which was the blueprint for his boys to follow.

 

[Hash]

hash do u honestly think based on this test match's performance , lankans will have their tail up for the second test match ? do u honestly think based on their second innings performance them lankans would think that all their bases covered. coz personally i think england were just one screw away from burying them lankans in this test .

england were playing test cricket after a bit of a lapse hence they were a bit rusty. thats all to it.

p.s please tell me this, how do u define the word moral victory and how important is it come the next match.

BD- The 2nd Test is irrelevent. I am not talking about psychological advantages or this or that.

To me....the MORAL VICTORY goes to the side which leaves the test the happier. If you seriously think England are leaving this test happier than Sri Lanka, I would consider you for a brain transplant. Only an idiot would say that.

But ofcoarse that is not what you are saying. Obviously our definitions for 'moral victory' are different. Mine is to do with which side is happier while yours is something to do with what is likely to happen in the 2nd test. Let's agree to disagree.

 

[HAFRIDI]

i would like to agree with u but the question remains that ever since the lankans set foot on english soil for this tour, their performances with the bat have been anything but ordinary. for all u kno the english team could well be saying this lankan resistance was a one off, to put a nail into this argument, this one off lankan performance is a direct result of 9 dropped catches, now if that aint one off then nothing is. u take them 9 drops out of the equation and even ud join the choir , singing these words

what lankan resisitance?


p.s. if u must kno, lankans and indians share a common blood line, they trace their roots all the way to MR tigersathome panziesabroad..

Be it a one off or not, dropped catches or not, this 2nd innings performance will give them confidence and when u have confidence, anything can happen.

It will be a better series than people predicted

 

[James]

Be it a one off or not, dropped catches or not, this 2nd innings performance will give them confidence and when u have confidence, anything can happen.

It will be a better series than people predicted

One thing noticeable to me that was when we were getting a really good game from SL and being competed with over the last 3 days, I felt a lot more excited about the cricket. It was good to see England play well over days 1 and 2, but to be honest it was pretty boring and felt like a formality and walkover. It could be a top quality series, agreed.

 

[Officer Barbrady]

Flintoff captaincy fans: Why isn't Panesar used?

 

[pakistani pride]

pathetic is the word !

Very poor bowling and fielding you can see this as a one off thing but to let a team score over 500 runs in 3d innings is 2 much. . .

Pitch was a belter nothing in it even on day 5 and some peeps were saying wickets in may are hard to bat on .

The likes of vaas and co don even score thst big in Sl if they produce wickets like this versus pak then its very good for us !

 

[jusarrived]

Draw or not am more onvinced Flintoff isnt Captain material!

 

[Team Slayer]

can we play the english right now??

 

[zushy_786]

can we play the english right now??

Sure we can just hijack the Sri Lanka squad, offer them some remuneration, and voila.....The English won't notice

 

[Amjid Javed]

Congrats sri lanka on a superb comeback. To save a match when following on 300+ behind and to bat practically for 2 days worth of cricket is superb. I had sri lanka down for an inns defeat.

cricket is a funny old game!

 

[zMario]

Congratulations Sri Lanka, it almost equals Shoaib Malik's effort against them at Colombo, and almost Kamran Akmal at Mohali, and Karachi!

 

[Rob H]

Bitterly disappointed we let this game slip but there are still 2 more tests to take the series. Looking forward to Edgbaston test. We seem to do very well down the road. Hopefully our catching will have improved by then.

 

[jusarrived]

I think match will end draw!

I Know ,am Good!

 

[Juggy D]

This draw is as good as a victory. SL should be in a good frame of mind when the next test gets underway. With Jayasuriya and hopefully Malinga added to the team, we should see an improvement.

 

[Oxy]

But will Jayasuriya add anything to the team - hes only been averaging 17 ish in the last year

 

[zaf1986]

Can't do worse than Mubarak and Tharanga...

 

[Officer Barbrady]

Also, with Freddy looking good as stand-in captain, it just increases the pressure on Vaughn.

This potential situation is very similar to the Ganguly situation (out of form captain, in-form Yuvraj on the bench and Dravid impressing as stand-in captain).

Vaughan is the England captain.

And as the dust settles he remains very important to England's cause.

 

[Easa]

Can't do worse than Mubarak and Tharanga...

The latter made a fifty in the second innings.

 

[UJ]

Suddenly the confidence levels shift in favour of SL

Not as easy as it was first expected for England eh?

 

[James]

Draw or not am more onvinced Flintoff isnt Captain material!

Yet after 3 test series in India under difficult circumstances, everyone was saying he was captain material. After 1 test against SL where the match would easily have been won anyway if we could catch (even though his captaincy was ordinary during the follow on), you can't write him off.

Sorry but even the best captains of the last 10 years took some time to adjust, Hussian is considered one of the best of recent times (relatively speaking) but some of his results weren't the best, and he needed to taste win, draw and defeat to learn. Not saying Flintoff will be an all-time great captain, but he still has the series in India under his belt where whatever it came to (ball, bat, fielding and cricket brain) he was amazing.

I am sure we will see a different Flintoff in the 2nd test.