England v Sri Lanka | 1st Test | June 12-16, 2014 | Lord's

[Kiri]

​

It’s been a war, nothing short of controversy and thrilling. Both these sides have locked horns in an unexpected battle of close occasions. Sri Lanka has won the ODI series 3-2 and made sure they landed the first major blow before the Test series. Even though Sri Lanka is buzzing with momentum, history still leaves a reality sting.

In 13 Tests, Sri Lanka have only won 2 in England. If anything, this is their best chance to rectify the stain. They have won all series they’ve participated in this year. With key personnel such as Prasad, Kaushal Silva and Thirumanne getting into some form in the warm up game, they will want to bank on this and post a valuable knock at Lords.

Tomorrow, Sri lanka will be stepping into a cage with a reformed tiger trying to learn and leap from it’s mistakes. England will have several new players joining their squad that will want to capitalize on a new start at home against a subcontinent team tagged by a mediocre Test record. Of the newbies, Moeen Ali will be looking to debut on a high. It is known that he is working on the doosra and will be looking to unleash it upon the veterans themselves. How effective this will be is only known to Ali and Ajmal, which highlights its potential.

The venom of England’s seam attack drops down the shoulders of Anderson and Broad. They will be looking to recreate the dismal performance of the 2011 Cardiff Test that Sri Lanka succumbed to. It is how Sri Lanka play England’s seamers that will define a significant proportion of the result. London has seen sunny conditions over the past few days and it does not look like changing. There will probably be bounce earlier on, but the Lords pitch will most likely settle for the batting team to capitalize on.

One key man that stands a threat to England’s batting is Herath. He weaved a web around them in Colombo in 2012 and with the pitch likely providing assistance on day 4 and 5, maybe even earlier with the warm conditions, he will be looking to exploit as much turn as possible.

England will want to start the Test series on a high so losing will not be an option. With the added controversy of Senanayake mankading Buttler and also being reported for chucking within the same week, it will put Sri Lanka on a mission motivated by pride and pressure. Let the game begin.

 

[Batman]

The first Test between England and Sri Lanka to be played today at Lord's, London.

Match scheduled to begin at 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT | 12:00 CEST | 15:00 PST)

 

[MarkCooper]

Ali arrives. Will score a tonne.

 

[Justcrazy]

Hopefully we will see a solid game.

 

[MarkCooper]

 

[MarkCooper]

Damn right we won't Mankad you. We are English - we play the game with honour!

 

[MarkCooper]

 

[MarkCooper]

Bowl??? Hahah oops!

Always bat first at Lords!

 

[Convict]

Damn right we won't Mankad you. We are English - we play the game with honour!

Clarke reckons that it's all good and he looks forward to an opportunity to do it

 

[MarkCooper]

 

[MarkCooper]

If Clarke would just get out of the beauty salon and stop getting his nails done he can do some physio on his dodgy back.

 

[Convict]

View attachment 45366

I guess Swan didn't watch the Boxing Day test- probably because he flew home

 

[Robert]

The wicket is a bit green so it will have some pace and bounce in it. Not much for the SL spinners. SL should have batted first, and made England bat last in the hope that it will start to break up by day 4.

Plunkett is playing, so we have a four-man pace attack on a fastish wicket. Lovely. Caaaaaaaaam on the Ingerlund!

 

[Kiri]

Sri Lanka have a mediocre pace attack so they will want to take advantage of any assistance offered by the pitch as much as possible.

 

[MarkCooper]

73 mph opening bowler

 

[khalil1986]

Dropped catch

 

[khalil1986]

Nope it wasn't nicked, what the hell happened to Kulasekara's pace.

 

[MarkCooper]

It wasn't a dropped catcg . given as byes. Hit pad with bat

 

[MarkCooper]

Oh no Billy is umpire. Expect some honking mistakes

 

[style_guru]

Malinga should've come out of retirement & helped his team at the least in English conditions. He's only 29 damn it

 

[MarkCooper]

90 mph

 

[MarkCooper]

Bumble once called Herath "a little fat lad". Lol

 

[khalil1986]

Good pace from Nuwan.

 

[khalil1986]

Robson gone, 14-1.

Only realized Robson has represented Australia U19's so I'm guessing England are fed up with the Saffers

 

[khalil1986]

Middle order barring Bell looks very inexperienced so SL can really get stuck in here.

 

[Robert]

Silly prod from Robbo. Facepalm.

 

[khalil1986]

Cook chops on, 22-2.

 

[Convict]

He's Cooked
And the traitor is out as well. Which is a pity because I want him to be Englands best player

 

[Batman_DB]

england in trouble

 

[khalil1986]

SL need to dismiss Bell quickly and they can potentially roll England over for 250 or less.

Bell is key now and needs to stand up and more often than not he bottles it but has changed that recently.

 

[Batman_DB]

BELL has to be the saviour

 

[the Great Khan]

bell the saviour? lol...lets see if he proves me wrong..

 

[Varun]

The glorified county attack are doing pretty well for themselves.

 

[Scrolln]

Cook averaging 25 in his last 21 innings.

I expect him to come back to form against the Indian bowling legends this summer, if not before.

 

[Robert]

Popgun attack, lovely day, good batting wicket, both openers get themselves out.

Facepalm.

 

[style_guru]

Into just 15th over on the 1st day & we have Mathews bowling? Only the great Indian attack can beat the might of SL attack

 

[Bickers]

If we can get past the new ball stage (Sri Lankan openers bowled very well, Kulasekara is a very underrated bowler) then hopefully an Ian Bell masterclass could be in the offing this afternoon if it flattens out a bit.

Probably too much to ask.

 

[Haz95]

is gary really a long term option?

 

[Haz95]

England a playing much quicker than usual

 

[khalil1986]

England consolidating well here and yes Ballance does seems have the makings of a clutch player IMO

 

[Batman_DB]

the RR is 4.30 after 16 overs

 

[MarkCooper]

4.2 runs an overs whats going on out there. England should slow down

 

[Haz95]

It was roasting I went outside today, it must be pretty damn hot so I don't really expect the ball to move that much.

 

[style_guru]

If SL cannot take 1/2 wickets in next 5-7 overs, they'll have a long & tiring day ahead.

 

[Adil_94]

Considering the weakness of the SL bowling attack. Anything less than a 2-0 will be a failure for England IMO

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Batman_DB]

runs are flowing freely

 

[Batman_DB]

big wicket ENG was coming back to the game but they are in the back foot again

 

[Haz95]

lol ballance out..doesn't seem special to me

 

[desi_launda]

Lankans bowling good

 

[Robert]

lol ballance out..doesn't seem special to me

I don't rate him either.

Ballance at #3 and Root at #5, the reverse of their Yorks positions.

The top three have got themselves out. Annoying.

 

[Justcrazy]

Poms need to get a partnership here.

 

[Justcrazy]

Bell looking good so far , lanka would like to get him out.

 

[desi_launda]

Bell looks class as usual

 

[Justcrazy]

England run rate is good.

 

[Justcrazy]

Partnership 21 runs.

 

[Haz95]

I don't rate him either.

Ballance at #3 and Root at #5, the reverse of their Yorks positions.

The top three have got themselves out. Annoying.

he's a very consistent county performer so he deserves a long run. Average of 53 with 20 odd 100s is good. Root for some reason I still like...

 

[Batman_DB]

jamie redknapp poped in the commentary box

 

[Justcrazy]

Can herath be effective here ?

 

[Random Aussie]

Damn right we won't Mankad you. We are English - we play the game with honour!

LOL of course you do.

 

[Justcrazy]

Lanka would like another wicket before lunch.

 

[Justcrazy]

Lanka batting would be tested here, that would dictate outcome of the game

 

[Justcrazy]

Lunch 98 / 3

 

[Nikhil_cric]

No spin yet for herath. Will be a concern for Lanka as the day progresses.

 

[shaz619]

What happened to Kukasekara's pace? averaging around 73mph

 

[Kiri]

[MENTION=113824]Nikhil_cric[/MENTION], don't think it will be much of a concern. Pradeep is still going good so he will support him well. However, Era needs to find some rhythm.

 

[Kiri]

What happened to Kukasekara's pace? averaging around 73mph

I thought he averaged low 80s, but might be trying to conserve energy or not trying to rush the batsman.

 

[shaz619]

what on earth is going on in the England camp that line up is so confusing, the rookies don't bat at those positions in county cricket. Bell should have been there at no.3 you can't just throw these guys at the deep end and expect them to perform. All down to Moeen now to shine on debut, met him last year at a club game he has come so far glad he finally got the chance to play for England 12 months ago he felt that dream was starting to vanish

 

[shaz619]

I thought he averaged low 80s, but might be trying to conserve energy or not trying to rush the batsman.

I was thinking the same but even then his speed should not be that low i thought there was something wrong with the speed guns, i never saw kulasekara bowl more then 75mph

 

[Nikhil_cric]

[MENTION=113824]Nikhil_cric[/MENTION], don't think it will be much of a concern. Pradeep is still going good so he will support him well. However, Era needs to find some rhythm.

Yeah but Kula's pace is just not Test class ATM. Averaging in the 70's. Eranga and Pradeep should not be over bowled and Herath will have to bowl many overs - could mean easy runs for the English on a pitch without much turn.

 

[Kiri]

Yeah but Kula's pace is just not Test class ATM. Averaging in the 70's. Eranga and Pradeep should not be over bowled and Herath will have to bowl many overs - could mean easy runs for the English on a pitch without much turn.

It's not all about pace, Kula showed during his 1st spell and all you need is to pitch it on the right length and make 'em play. He bowled very tight to Cook. He didn't have any room to play that cut shot but even in Australia, the bowlers didn't allow him to play the cut shot.

So then he decided to cut the ball that was too close to do so and resulted in chopping onto his stumps.

 

[Kiri]

I was thinking the same but even then his speed should not be that low i thought there was something wrong with the speed guns, i never saw kulasekara bowl more then 75mph

Not sure whether speed guns were wrong. Maybe Kula was bowling below 70. In the ODI series, he was doing fine around 80-85 ish.

 

[desi_launda]

Why kula played over Lakmal?

 

[shaz619]

Not sure whether speed guns were wrong. Maybe Kula was bowling below 70. In the ODI series, he was doing fine around 80-85 ish.

Am not 100% sure but generally even when he conserves energy he usually bowls in the low 80s during test matches so found that shocking lol and that's fine given his skill to move the ball both ways and he was able to do that again anyway despite bowling the low 70s. His second spell will give us a better idea

 

[Nikhil_cric]

It's not all about pace, Kula showed during his 1st spell and all you need is to pitch it on the right length and make 'em play. He bowled very tight to Cook. He didn't have any room to play that cut shot but even in Australia, the bowlers didn't allow him to play the cut shot.

So then he decided to cut the ball that was too close to do so and resulted in chopping onto his stumps.

Yeah but the conditions were helping him a bit. Batting will get easier in the next 2 sessions where he needs to bowl at least in the low 80's.

 

[Aman]

Bell should have be batting at 3, it's too much to expect a newcomer to international cricket to come in and make the #3 spot his own.

 

[Aman]

Gut feeling say's England will dominate from here on, SL needed to really rattle the top order to put themselves ahead. England have seen off the new ball and now should have it easy for the next 2 sessions I reckon.

 

[Convict]

Bell should have be batting at 3, it's too much to expect a newcomer to international cricket to come in and make the #3 spot his own.

Should have batted at 3 in the Ashes as well

 

[desi_launda]

Bell gone

 

[Aman]

Time for the class of Moeen

 

[Batman_DB]

england in big big trouble now