England v Sri Lanka | 3rd Test | Lord's | June 9-13, 2016

[marlonbrowndo]

Batsmen have lot to learn from gutty Herath – Mathews
May 31, 2016, 12:00 pm

Rex Clementine

reporting from Chester-le-Street

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews praised the fighting spirit of senior player Rangana Herath, who made a gutty half-century in Sri Lanka’s second innings in the eight wicket defeat to England in the second Test here in Chester-le-Street on Monday.

Following on after being bowled out for 101 in the first innings, Herath batted for more than two hours in Sri Lanka’s second innings and completed his second Test fifty adding 116 runs for the seventh wicket with centurion Dinesh Chandimal.

Hearth’s (61) effort helped Sri Lanka to stretch the Test deep into day four and make England bat again to avoid innings defeat.

"Rangana showed lot of fighting spirit in our second innings and others can learn a lot," Mathews said.

"He’s become a proper number eight for us over the past one-and-a-half years. He’s been scoring and hanging in there. Especially if I recall a couple of years ago at Headingley, once again he batted with me and got 49. He’s been giving his best with the bat and ball for us over the last couple of years. Every day he’s been trying to get better. Hopefully he can continue that," Mathews added.

After a disappointing first innings, where Sri Lanka were bowled out in little over a session for a paltry 101, the tourists fought back to post 475 in their second innings. "Not scoring more in the first innings was very disappointing. We talked about bringing back the fight – the Sri Lankan fight that we’ve not had in the last couple of weeks. The boys showed a lot of resilience after the last five weeks to come back and score 475 runs was very pleasing. The way Chandimal batted and also Kaushal Silva and Rangana Herath – they batted well and fought really hard."

Sri Lanka lost the first Test at Leeds as well, but the wicket for the second Test was a far better one to bat than on the previous occasion. "It wasn’t a 100 run wicket. There was much less grass than Headingley. It was not spinning much. It had a little bit of lateral movement, but there were no demons in the wicket. We could have got at least 250 on that wicket to give ourselves a chance in this game."

After the second day’s play, when Sri Lanka were 91 for eight, a dressing down by Chairman of Selectors Sanath Jayasuriya and assessing things on their own helped the team for a better show. "It’s just the character we talked about. We talked about our character and the fight. We’ve been talking a lot about it, but unfortunately we didn’t show it on the field.

I thought we started showing it in the second innings while we were batting. We had a brilliant first day. We caught all our catches. But unfortunately started off day two by letting Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes off the hook. Then we had a really bad day towards the end of the second day – almost getting bowled out," Mathews further said.

source : http://www.islandcricket.lk/news/srilankacricket/batsmen-have-lot-to-learn-from-gutty-herath-mathews

 

[The Last Of The Stars]

Sri Lanka better skip this match.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Sri lanka may end up winning this one.

 

[#GreenRoars]

In 2nd Test, some good fight back SL. Hope they will perform more better in 3rd Test.

 

[Hasan123]

Lankans seems to have got the hang of conditions. If it's similar pitch to last year's match at Lord's between England and Australia, Lankans are in the game. That was the flattest wicket I have seen in England

 

[Justcrazy]

First innings Lanka have to bat well, all the players have to give there best shot , and try and stick to the wicket as long as possible.

 

[Robert]

Compton and Finn are playing for their places.

 

[Hasan123]

Compton and Finn are playing for their places.

On their home ground they surely have to perform

 

[Ab Fan]

Finn deserves a lot more games. He is a very very fine bowler. Compton most of times goes into completely defensive mood and doesn't seem to keep the scoreboard ticking at all. That won't work as you have to score runs to make an impact.

 

[Ab Fan]

Eng bowling will be tested later this year in India but II still won't mind calling them the best bowling attack in the world currently.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Sri lanka may end up winning this one.

If they had Prasad and Chameera, this would've been a very competitive match.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Bump

 

[Abdullah719]

Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne has said that he is unhappy with the kind of preparations he has had ahead of the Test series against England. Karunaratne in his four warm-up innings against Essex and Leicestershire has had scores of 8, 16 not out, 0 and 100, but believes that the practice was not good enough going into a Test series. Karunaratne in the two Tests against England has managed to score just 42 runs in his four innings. Sri Lanka are already 0-2 down in the three-match series and will look to salvage some pride by winning the third Test at Lord’s, beginning on Thursday.

“I don’t think the century in that warm-up game was very satisfying,” Karunaratne told the Island. “I don’t think that kind of preparation will do any good ahead of a tough Test series. The oppositions we played were basically second-string teams. In our second warm-up game, there were just two fast bowlers and the rest were spinners. I wasn’t too pleased after getting the hundred.”

Karunaratne has been one of the heaviest scorers in the domestic circuit for Sri Lanka. He was excellent in the four-Test series against New Zealand, where he had an average of over 42 in four Tests. He went on to say that Sri Lanka should have played a team from Division One from the English County, but played against a couple of teams from Division Two instead.

“During the practice game, of the two fast bowlers, the quickest guy bowled just four overs,” Karunaratne said. “Some of the Division Two bowlers didn’t ask many questions. When we play that kind of opposition and all of a sudden play James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the Test match, the gap is huge. We tend to make more mistakes and get out cheaply. When England come to Sri Lanka, they play our A team as warm-up.”

Karunaratne also said that words of advice from Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara ahead of the Lord’s Test have helped him. “Mahela Jayawardene had a chat with me and he gave me some options. Then Kumar Sangakkara called me and stressed the need to remain positive. His tips are useful as he has played here a lot. Sanath Jayasuriya too had a chat with me. Currently I take guard on the middle stump. He suggested that I should maybe move between middle and off stump as that allows me to stop playing outside the body. He had done the same thing during his playing days. These are very useful tips.”

http://www.cricketcountry.com/news/...f-england-vs-sri-lanka-2016test-series-456126

Honestly, he has a point.

 

[Abdullah719]

England star Joe Root frustrated at lack of focus: Durham dismissal was a car crash

JOE ROOT made light of a rare flash of anger after seen punching his bat when dismissed in the second Test at Durham, joking that one of his feather blows was never going to damage either equipment or hands.

“If Ben Stokes had been doing it there might be an issue as he’s a bit stronger than me. But I am not going to snap a bat in half with one of my soft punches,” he said.

But if his face was wreathed in smiles again yesterday preparing for the third Test at Lord’s, they masked genuine frustration inside England’s best batsman at yet another opportunity missed to convert a half-century into a hundred.

Root, who fell 20 runs short at the Riverside, has made nine centuries in his four years and 41 Tests with England. But he believes he could have doubled that tally had his tendency to fall between 50 and 99 not gathered such frustrating momentum.

In the last 12 months alone he has reached 50 a dozen times and moved on to three figures in just three. In his first three years he converted six out of his 17 half-centuries.

It marks a decelerating conversion rate that should not yet worry England or Root. Indeed, Nick Compton, for one, might look across the dressing room at such frustration with a rueful shake of the head.

But it is an issue that is getting under Root’s skin and one he initially put down yesterday to “complacency” before rethinking his choice of words and offering “a lack of concentration”.

“I look at the dismissal [in Durham, where he mistimed a leg-side nudge and was caught at cover] and it was a car crash – it was awful,” he said. “It is hard to put your finger on why but I certainly don’t think I am changing my approach or the way I play when I get to a certain score.

“I like to think it is just coincidence. I feel my game is in a good place and I am moving well but if anything I am maybe slightly complacent at times. Perhaps that’s the wrong word, maybe a slight lack of concentration would be better.

“Sometimes you get away with it and other times you are made to look silly, but over the last couple of months it has been very frustrating for me. I am contributing quite consistently but you don’t win games with 70s and 80s and starts.

“You want to make sure you cash in and go on to make hundreds. I could probably have had double the number of hundreds if you look at the amount of 50s.”

Root has come to the right place if he is to shake off his double-figure troubles with two of his top three Test scores coming here – 180 against Australia in July 2013 and an unbeaten 200 against Sri Lanka in June 2014.

That last innings was a notable point in his career after he had been dropped for the last Test of the disastrous Ashes campaign in 2013-14.

“It was my first game back and you want to make sure you cement our place back in the side, to show everyone else and myself that I could play at this level,” he said.

“Had I got two noughts you never know how things would have panned out but I look back on that innings as a massive stepping stone to developing my game. Proving to myself that I could score big runs. To get them here was the icing on the cake.

“It would be very nice to contribute this week to a series win with a big score. We are going to have to play some good cricket to win. It looks like it is going to be a good wicket and it could get flatter later.”

Compton will no doubt be pleased to hear Root’s assessment given the perilous position he finds himself in, seemingly one more failure away from losing his place.

“It would be great to see him put in a match-winning performance and he is more than capable of doing that,” said Root, a point later emphasised by batting consultant Mark Ramprakash.

“I can relate to Nick feeling on edge given the inevitable scrutiny on his position,” said Ramprakash. “But he has to allow himself to play the game of cricket not the occasion.”

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/cric...est-Sri-Lanka-Concentration-Nick-Compton-News

Props to him for acknowledging there is a problem.