SL v England | 1st Test | Kandy | 30/11/2007

[12thMan]

Umpires: Aleem Dar, Asad Rauf

Sri Lanka: Jayasuriya, Vandort, Sangakkara, M Jayawardene, Silva, Mubarak, P Jayawardene, Vaas, D Fernando, Malinga, Muralitharan

England: Cook, Vaughan, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bopara, Prior, Sidebottom, Hoggard, Anderson, Panesar

Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat

SL 86-5 at lunch
Hoggard taking 4 wickets

 

[12thMan]

Sangakkara on 39
Hoggard bowled a 10 over spell, and has a new celebration
Play resumes

 

[12thMan]

50 for Sangakkara - has gone past 50 in his last 5 innings
SL 118-5

 

[kablooee87]

50 for Kumar.

Have I ever mentioned how class this guy is?

 

[PlanetPakistan]

Sangakarra is so so so good!

Well done to Hoggard too. I personally don't like his kind of bowlers but still think that he is a bit underrated.

 

[12thMan]

P Jayawerdene reaches his first test 50. also bring 100 run partnership
SL 142-5

 

[12thMan]

P Jayawerdene out ct at short leg off Panesar
SL 148-6
Vaas in - playing his 100th test/ Played first test in 1994 at this ground against Pakistan

 

[12thMan]

Vaas bowled by Panesar
SL 180-7
Sangakkara batting on 86

 

[12thMan]

Fernando out ct at gully off Panesar
SL 182-8
batsman Malinga in

 

[foojam]

hoggard picking up wickets in sri lanka? what kind of pitch must this be??

 

[12thMan]

Sangakkara out on 92 off Andersen. Brilliant catch by Collignwood at point
SL 186-9 after 59.2 overs
batsman Murali in

 

[12thMan]

Murali run out
SL 188 all out after 59.4 overs

 

[12thMan]

Vaughan amd Cook to open. Vaas to bowl

 

[12thMan]

Cook LBW Vaas
Eng 0-1 after 0.3 overs

 

[KB]

Kandy seems to be a lovely cricket ground, which is not something you can say about most South Asian cricket grounds. Despite the intense Test match battle in the middle, there is a serenity about the setting at Kandy.

 

[the Great Khan]

hoggard bowled beutifully, like asif last year in lanka...they must have checked out those few series!!...england looked deadly!!

 

[Saj]

We talk about Mohammed Sami's pace and hostility. I think he would be better served by looking at the technical side of the game and looking at someone like Hoggard.

Hoggard was a bowler who in his earlier years was an outswing bowler, he did not have the ability to seam the ball into the right handers. However with hard work and some adjustments he has now got the inswinger in his armoury. The outswinger remains his stock delivery, but the fact that the batsman knows that he has the inswinger too, then that adds to the uncertainty.

The seam position for the majority of his deliveries is almost perfect.

 

[foojam]

Kandy seems to be a lovely cricket ground, which is not something you can say about most South Asian cricket grounds. Despite the intense Test match battle in the middle, there is a serenity about the setting at Kandy.

kandy is a beautiful town in the hills away from the coastal towns. the ground in galle is also amazing...with the fort as a viewing point! not sure if its been restored since the tsunami.

 

[James]

Awesome awesome awesome. I have been saying it on here for a long time but here it is again: Hoggard is ace. And anyone who says otherwise is a tool, especially after today. A really good team effort, overall. Hopefully we can build a lead of at least 100 runs which will give us a half decent chance of winning the test, on a pitch which is 'flat' but still prone to seeing wickets fall.

 

[12thMan]

Bell 50 - his 15th
Eng 65-1

 

[James]

186-6, rain stops play.
We're doing ok, but it would have been nice for someone to go on to get a big one instead of us having to witness the familiar slump to Murali. I didnt want to be more than 4 wickets down by this stage, and the decision to leave out Shah (one of the best players of spin in England) looks a questionable one now. Still, this could go either way. Even a lead of 50 for us could make a big difference in the 2nd innings.

 

[Rob H]

Matt Prior once again justifies his selection . We are in a fairly good position going into day 3. Ideally i'd wish we didn't lose those 2 late wickets but we are in the position to gain some sort of lead. The only thing at the moment that is standing in our way is Murali. Exceptional figures yet again for the little man who is not getting the support from the other end. Colly needs to dig in and bat with the tail again like Nagpur in 2006.

 

[James]

Collingwood has got a few scores on the subcontinent and his dour style is perfectly suited to these slow and low wickets. Hopefully he delivers again tomorrow, as day 3 could go a long way to deciding the outcome of the test, if indeed we get any play (apparently a monsoon is on the way). He will have to shepherd the tail like a pro because our tail is very weak.

Murali is so good. SO good. Once again a Sri Lankan side is found wanting and he grabs them by the scruff of the neck, and gets them back into the match, when they dont deserve to be in this position at all. Their batting was abysmal and the bowling (bar Murali) hasnt been much better. I just hope, for once, an England team can get the better of Murali because I'm sick of the opposite happening.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Sri Lanka 188 & 392/5 v England 281

Sri Lanka lead by 299 runs with still 39 overs left to play...

Looks like england may have to bat 100-110 overs to save this match just like they had to in 1st two tests of last series in sri lanka!

 

[Saj]

I cant believe that the Lankans havent declared yet.

 

[James]

I think we have a reasonable chance of a draw. Just like Vaughan did on the last tour, and Shoaib Malik did for Pakistan, one guy needs to hold his hand up on the final day. We have shown in this test that we are a fighting side, and we are still an ok side. We could win a test out here. We just need to be more consistent over the 5 days instead of having 5 good sessions and 7 crap ones. First objective is not to lose tomorrow and I'm optimistic of a tied series at least.

 

[Amjid Javed]

I cant believe that the Lankans havent declared yet.

Sri Lanka over last few years have always been conservative on declerations. Its now really down to murali to get most of the 9 wickets left to get on day 5.

England did save 1st two tests in last series having to bat out last day. Intresting if they can again. Murali is likely to bowl at one end all day!

 

[Genghis]

SL v England | 1st Test | Kandy | Day 5 | 5/12/07

Couldn't see a thread for this match currently being played so thought I would start one up. Anyways SL have picked up some early wickets this morning in the first session.

At lunch England are struggling a bit at 5/125, losing the wickets of Vaughan, Anderson, Pieterson and Collingwood today.

England need another 225 runs to win.

Currently Ian Bell (25*) and Ravi Bopara (25*) are batting.

 

[PlanetPakistan]

Bell and Bopara are both very good young players so hopefully they can revive ENG from this mess. I am a bit disappointed at the way KP has played in sub continent.

 

[Hash]

we should win this one

 

[James]

We usually deal in extremes, but this is not a brilliant display, nor is it a complete collapse - just a bit of a nothing really. A medicore effort from most and nowhere near good enough to save the game.

 

[Asim2Good]

Eng fighting hard to draw the match

 

[alexjohn_tcr]

What happened to the much hyped KP?? Not long ago he was bracketed along with the likes of Tendulkar Lara & Ponting

 

[Asim2Good]

What happened to the much hyped KP?? Not long ago he was bracketed along with the likes of Tendulkar Lara & Ponting

I think today he got horrible delivery coz of bad pitch

 

[Asim2Good]

does England have any chance of winning it?

122 runs required in 24 overs

 

[Genghis]

Bell gone ... and that should just about be it ... SL should win it from here.

 

[Oxy]

9 men down - Sidebotham showing a bit of dissent...inside edge onto his pad...given LBW.

 

[Saj]

All over folks.

England battle well, but that wily fox Murali was once again the difference.

 

[Amjid Javed]

England battled hard but in end the new ball seemed to help murali with extra zip and bounce.

England must be gutted as there were only another 20 mins left to play out in game...

 

[Taurus]

What happened to the much hyped KP?? Not long ago he was bracketed along with the likes of Tendulkar Lara & Ponting

He's scored two hundreds in his last four Test Matches. He's averaging 25 over the Test, with a broken hand, and has merely had a bad Test Match.

And he got an unplayable delivery today, just read Cricinfo's commentary:

Fernando to Pietersen, OUT, the biggie but nothing Pietersen could have done ... nothing Bradman could have done ... the ball barely gets nine inches off the ground and clunks into the off stump as he is left groping in a desperate attempt to get his bat down

 

[Fish]

Umpire denies England

Umpires have made a huge mistake and cost England the game against Sri Lanka.



90.2 Muralitharan to Sidebottom, OUT, another cracker from Murali, the doosra, but Sidebottom got a massive inside edge. Nevertheless, up goes the finger and he's sent packing

 

[Sultan Yusuf]

So sidebottom would have gone on to make a century would he?

 

[Oxy]

Ryan was century bound??

 

[Taurus]

Murali's blatant you know what to Prior is what cost us the match. Time for tests to be carried out during matches, 'cause that was disgusting.

 

[Fish]

So sidebottom would have gone on to make a century would he?

He only had to bat for another 20 minutes, no time for a century but he would have saved the match. I get the feeling the umpires wanted England to lose.

 

[Oxy]

I get the feeling the umpires wanted England to lose.

Yeah - why not? Some people need to bear grudges once in a while.

 

[zushy_786]

He only had to bat for another 20 minutes, no time for a century but he would have saved the match. I get the feeling the umpires wanted England to lose.

) ) I bet Collywobble felt the same way

 

[James]

KP got one that kept low today, and the delivery from Murali to get him in the first innings was a decent one too. He got a match-saving 4th innings century in his last test innings before this game!! In conclusion, people are idiots.

To be honest Murali bowled pretty poorly today, and if the top 5 had batted as a unit we could have easily drawn or won the match, so we have ourselves to blame. Bell, Bopara and Prior were superb today which was encouraging, as its usually the top four that deliver and a collapse follows after that, so overall we are potentially a good batting side. Bell had a fantastic test, only shortcoming is that if he had converted one of his 70s or 80s into a big hundred we could have won the game, but he was by far our best player out there.

We were good in bits in this test. Like I said earlier, I think we can win a test out here and at least tie the series - we just need to be consistent and stop mixing bad sessions with good ones. 2 tests to go, we arent out of it yet.