England v Sri Lanka | 2nd Test | Chester-le-Street | May 27-31, 2016 | Pre Match thread

[#GreenRoars]

England all-rounder Ben Stokes is currently a doubtful starter for the second Test against Sri Lanka after suffering a knee injury in the first game in Leeds.

Stokes suffered a knee injury while bowling on the second day and also started the third day, but soon returned to the dressing room to undergo treatment.

The 24-year-old took no further part in the game as England rattled the Sri Lankan batting line-up to secure a massive innings and 88-run victory and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Revealing the details, England skipper Alastair Cook said that Stokes will be in the squad for the second Test but his participation is clouded in doubt due to the injury.

However, Cook further added that the medical staff are unsure about the nature of Stokes’ injury and that the all-rounder will be undergoing a scan.

"He (Ben Stokes) doesn't look good for Durham," said Cook.

"He'll have a scan tomorrow.

“We will certainly add to the squad.

“Even if he's named there will be a risk.

“We don't know. He has something in his knee and is not 100 per cent right.

“It took a major shoulder thing for him to leave the pitch in Abu Dhabi so for him to not feel right is not great.

“But you never know."

The second Test of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka will be played at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, Durham and will get underway on 27th May.

http://www.cricketworld.com/ben-sto...rfeed&utm_medium=twitter#sthash.AIyESHbl.dpuf

 

[Asim2Good]

seems u wanna match to be finished before it even starts

 

[street cricketer]

What is there to talk about lol.

Maybe in how many days the match would finish..

 

[TestMatch]

I hope Sri Lanka fight back. The 2014, two test series between SL and Eng was quite memorable, as far as 2 test series go.

Joe Root: 200

Sangakkara: 147, 61, 79, 55

Mathews: 102, 160

Moeen Ali: 108

Sri Lanka won the 2 test series.

 

[Markhor]

Correction to thread title - May 27-28 2016.

 

[HitWicket]

Will be interesting to see who comes into the team if Stokes is out as he's got a pretty unique position in maintaining the team balance.

 

[Markhor]

Will be interesting to see who comes into the team if Stokes is out as he's got a pretty unique position in maintaining the team balance.

Moeen up to 7 and Jake Ball comes in as another specialist bowler ?

Given the batting was a bit shaky in Leeds, I think they'll go for Woakes to shore things up at 8.

 

[Hasan123]

Be interesting to see who they will replace stokes with. Hopefully Sri Lanka compete better

 

[Abdullah719]

England v Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera replaces injured Dhammika Prasad for tourists

Wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera will replace fast bowler Dhammika Prasad in Sri Lanka's Test squad.

Perera, 25, was the side's wicketkeeper before being given a provisional suspension for failing a drugs test, which was lifted earlier this month.

"Kusal will join the team as soon as possible and acclimatise so he can do some serious work with the bat," said chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya.

Prasad was injured in Sri Lanka's warm-up game against Essex.

England won the first Test in three days at Headingley by an innings-and-88-runs.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/36355581

 

[rhony]

And the torture begins all over again for SL

 

[Adijazz1706]

Hope for a better fight from SL, the last match reminded me of the Indians getting to 66/6 in 4 innings straight IIRC.

 

[#GreenRoars]

Good news for Kausal.

 

[Muhammad10]

County Championship: Chris Woakes takes 9-36 for Warwickshire after England call-up

Warwickshire's Chris Woakes took a stunning career-best 9-36 at Edgbaston as he warmed up for a possible England Test recall by bowling out Durham.

Woakes, who was called up to replace Ben Stokes for the second Test against Sri Lanka on Friday, went for 17 runs with no reward off his first six overs.

He then took nine wickets in 14 overs for 19 runs as Durham, although saving the follow-on, were bowled out for 190.

The Bears, who totalled 313 in their first innings, then closed on 15-2.

Woakes was due to travel to Chester-le-Street straight after the end of day two, to be replaced for the rest of the Divison One game by leg-spinner Josh Poysden, with the approval of both Durham and the ECB.

He therefore came in to open when Warwickshire's second innings began, but he was one of two quick victims for former England seamer Graham Onions, who also bowled nightwatchman Chris Wright.

Wright had more success in his time at the crease earlier in the day when he extended his ninth-wicket stand to 52 with Jeetan Patel, helping the Bears add a further 40 runs to their overnight 273-8.

In reply, Durham made a sound start as openers Mark Stoneman (36) and Keaton Jennings (29) put on 61 for the first wicket, only to cave in alarmingly once Woakes had made the breakthrough.

Woakes' wicket-taking feats

Woakes' bowling figures were the best by a Bears player since the late Jack Bannister took 10-41 against the Combined Services at the old Mitchell & Butler ground in 1959. Eric Hollies also took all 10 for Warwickshire in a Championship game in 1946.

Woakes' nine wickets, four of them caught behind and two clean bowled, are the eighth-best figures in first-class cricket for Warwickshire. His own previous career-best was 7-20 against Hampshire, also at Edgbaston in 2011.

He is the first Bears player to take eight wickets or more since Imran Tahir in 2010 - and the first to take nine in an innings in English cricket since James Harris took 9-34, also against Durham for Middlesex a year ago.

The 27-year-old, who won the last of his six England caps in January in South Africa, has taken eight Test wickets at 63.75 and made 129 runs at 21.50.

But he has started the 2016 season well, having now taken 21 County Championship wickets, as well as hitting a century when captaining the county in Ian Bell's absence in last week's win against Nottinghamshire.

'Nice to find some rhythm' - Woakes

Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes told BBC WM:

"I just hit my rhythm. I got the wicket of Mark Stoneman and after that felt really good. I probably felt as good as I have all year so it's nice to be in that rhythm going into a Test squad.

"To get a five-for was nice but then to finish it off with nine was pretty special. But there was some really good work done at the other end. It just happened to be my day to take the wickets.

"It just clicked from that end after lunch. I didn't try to do anything different to what I normally do but it was fortunately just my day. The ball swung all day which was nice.

"Yesterday we were 200-2 and that was a position we definitely didn't expect to be in because the wicket did a bit but Andy Umeed got a great hundred."

Durham batsman Mark Stoneman:

"Woakesie was pretty impressive. He extracted more than anyone else out of the surface and was pretty relentless in doing so.

"They kept it tight at the other end so the pressure kept building as the scoreboard didn't move and he put enough balls in a good area to take wickets.

"Credit goes to Woakeie. He's going to get the headlines but I imagine they will be pretty happy with the way they bowled as a unit.

"We tried as best we could to stick it out but it seemed every time he was about to take a break he took a wicket."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/36355493

 

[Dr_Bassim]

How many sessions can Sri Lanka last?

I'd wager 5 sessions max in two times of batting.

 

[#GreenRoars]

How many sessions can Sri Lanka last?

I'd wager 5 sessions max in two times of batting.

Think this Test will last for 4 days.

 

[Shayan]

Sri Lanka suffer another injury blow

Sri Lanka paceman Dushmantha Chameera is set to miss the three-Test home series against Australia with a back injury that has forced him to return home from their current tour of England.

Sri Lanka's cricket board announced the news on Tuesday compounding the team's woes in England after being humiliated by an innings and 88-runs in the first Test at Headingley last week.

Australia face Sri Lanka in Kandy, Galle and Colombo from the end of July. The islanders lost pace bowler Dhammika Prasad to a shoulder injury even before the first Test, which England wrapped up inside three days.

Even in that huge defeat, the 24-year-old Chameera managed to impress by dismissing top-scorer Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad in England's first innings.

"Chameera ... underwent an MRI/CT Scan this morning, which has indicated a stress fracture to his lower back, and medical recommendation is treatment and rest for as much as four months," Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. The team would name a replacement soon, it added.

Prasad, who has since been replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera, had been undergoing treatment, the board added.

The second match of the three-Test series begins at Chester-le-Street on Friday.

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/dush...dium=social&utm_campaign=internationalcricket

 

[Hasan123]

Chameera gave the attack something different big blow in my opinion

 

[rhony]

Huge blow for SL. Chameera can't last long if he doesn't get stronger. This is 2nd major injury in an year

 

[#GreenRoars]

Chameera injures are very frequent now. He need to sort this out.

 

[Abdullah719]

Broad warning for Sri Lanka

England may come into the second test against Sri Lanka in Durham on the back of a crushing win in the series opener, but according to Stuart Broad the hosts have still to hit top form.

Propelled by a hundred from Jonny Bairstow and match figures of 10 for 45 from James Anderson, England thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and 88 runs in the first test at Headingley last week to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

But Broad, still the world's No 1 ranked test bowler, said there was no danger of England letting up when the second test starts at north-east county Durham's Riverside headquarters on Friday.

"Obviously the series is still up for grabs and I think one thing we've probably been average at is in the last test of the series when we've won, I'm thinking Centurion and the Oval," he added of a defeat by South Africa earlier this year and last year's Ashes-ending reverse against Australia.

"With a test series up for grabs we're on it and our aim is to have all nine test trophies and we can make it eight this week," he added Wednesday.

"I think Australia and South Africa have done it before. It is not something that has been done a huge amount, so it would be a huge achievement and we're desperate to do that.

"It wasn't the perfect performance at Headingley – we dropped catches and we didn't bat as well as we'd want to (England were 83 for five before Bairstow's rescue mission) so there are improvements we can make this week."

FORM REPLACEMENTS

England will have to make at least one change after Durham allrounder Ben Stokes was ruled out of playing on his home ground with a knee injury suffered at Headingley.

Warwickshire's Chris Woakes, a like for like replacement, was called into the England squad on Monday and promptly took a career-best nine for 36 against Durham at Edgbaston.

England also have the option of giving a debut to Broad's uncapped Nottinghamshire teammate Jake Ball, with the paceman having also been in the squad at Headingley.

"The great thing is that both guys are coming in in good form," said Broad, whose combined tally of 781 test wickets with Anderson makes them one of England's greatest new-ball pairings.

"Chris Woakes is coming off a nine-for on the day he was told he was called up for the test squad –- that's a pretty good day –- and Jake Ball has been bowling beautifully all year."

Sri Lanka are badly in need of runs from their top order after being skittled out twice in Leeds.

Kusal Mendis's second-innings fifty was a rare highlight but with more grey skies promising to aid the quicks, the tourists are set for another difficult match.

"I think we're getting used to these conditions. We just have to cope with them," said wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella, hoping to force his way into the side.

"Headingley was a bad test for us, and we're hoping to come back here."

Sri Lanka too will have to make an enforced change, with Suranga Lakmal set to replace injured fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera.

It was at the Riverside where Broad produced an Ashes-clinching return of six for 50 in 2013.

But with Durham a reported £5 million in debt and struggling to sell tickets for the Sri Lanka match, Friday's fixture could be the last test staged at the ground.

"I think it would be a big shame if we didn’t come back here," said Broad.

"From a purely selfish point of view of playing within the team, you want to play at grounds you win at.

"Durham have been a brilliant County Championship side for a number of years, winning it a few times, and they've produced quite a few England players who have changed the result for the England team."

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/international/news/160526/Broad_warning_for_Sri_Lanka

 

[Abdullah719]

Cook: Woakes is 'one performance away' from establishing England future ahead of summer

FILLING in for a man whose name is one of the first on the teamsheet is a thankless task, but Chris Woakes has been told to go out and give England a selection headache for the summer.

Ben Stokes was limping around the Emirates Riverside yesterday joking with his England colleagues after surgery to correct a cartilage problem in his left knee three days ago.

But if England’s captain Alastair Cook has his way, the in-form Woakes might just have wiped a bit of that smile from his face by the time the invalid is fit enough to be considered for selection.

“Chris Woakes is one of those guys we have not seen the best of in international cricket yet,” said Cook, whose team aim to seal the three-match Invested series with a win here in Durham this weekend. “He is one performance away from feeling comfortable and thinking he is good enough.

“But I know he has a lot of good stuff going for him having faced him in the nets and seen him bowl for Warwickshire, so I am really excited about him playing here.

“He has the next couple of games with Ben out and he can make selection really hard.”

Woakes for Stokes was as easy a decision as it sounds on the tongue with the Warwickshire man the next best all-rounder in England and fresh from a career best 9-36 against Durham earlier this week.

As Cook pointed out, he also struck a century the week before against Nottinghamshire which gave him the call over Jake Ball for all that Cook admitted pitching the latter in here in Durham was discussed.

In truth, for all that Woakes adds much, he will have his work cut out to dislodge a fully-fit Stokes for the series against Pakistan. However stranger things have happened in international sport.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/cric...Stokes-Injury-Selection-Summer-Sri-Lanka-News

 

[Ruri]

It's going to be miserably cold tomorrow surely. Wonder how the Lankans will deal with that.

 

[anuk]

expect sl to come back and smash the english

 

[Sadevdesai]

Looks like they have wised up by starting the Test on Friday, because it might be over by Monday !!!