***Official*** Sri Lanka in England

[BoyBrumby]

We have Essex followers? Where?

Ha! Well, Halsey, if he counts....

 

[chaminda_00]

I hope Vandort scores some runs against England A, or we could see Muburak opening the batting in the 1st Test.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Isn't Bopara an all rounder?

Obviously Rikki will be restricted with the ball because they don't want the game over in 1 day.

Bopara averages 55 with the ball in FC cricket, averages less than 3 overs a game in List A cricket. There is of course Rikki, Loudon, Tremlett, Plunkett and Mahmood. So as I say not sure about only having 3 bowlers one of which is becoming a bit of a sicknote.

 

[TT Boy]

I hope Vandort scores some runs against England A, or we could see Muburak opening the batting in the 1st Test.

Both bad as each other but Vandort has made only five runs so far on tour in two innings, surely Jehan could at least reach double figures.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bopara averages 55 with the ball in FC cricket, averages less than 3 overs a game in List A cricket. There is of course Rikki, Loudon, Tremlett, Plunkett and Mahmood. So as I say not sure about only having 3 bowlers one of which is becoming a bit of a sicknote.

Which three are worthy of the "bowler" epithet in the SP book then? I'd presume Tremlett & Plunkers are two....

 

[Arjun]

What are your comments on Zoysa's batting and bowling? It seems he and Vaas scored chunks at eight and ten. And how was Kulasekara? The selection of Prasanna Jayawardene is interesting, so if they go in with four bowlers, they can consider picking him. Hopefully he'll get at least 20 runs regularly.

 

[adharcric]

What is the status on Simon Jones? Giles will miss the tour, Harmison is uncertain, Vaughan will miss it, am I correct about those?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Which three are worthy of the "bowler" epithet in the SP book then? I'd presume Tremlett & Plunkers are two....

Come on, even you must think calling Rikki and Loudon bowlers is ridiculous - they're part-timers.

 

[marc71178]

Giles has found out his injury is "only" a hernia, so is likely to return later in the summer hopefully.

I think Vaughan and Harmison are definitely out of the 1st Test at least, but Jones is fit I believe.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Come on, even you must think calling Rikki and Loudon bowlers is ridiculous - they're part-timers.

Even me? I can't ever recall defending either!

What I meant was Saj Mahmood is hardly more worthy of it, judging by their respective records.

 

[chaminda_00]

Both bad as each other but Vandort has made only five runs so far on tour in two innings, surely Jehan could at least reach double figures.

Atleast Vandort got the 'potential' to be Test standard, Muburak isn't even FC standard, unless you include Bangladesh A as FC standard.

 

[chaminda_00]

What are your comments on Zoysa's batting and bowling? It seems he and Vaas scored chunks at eight and ten. And how was Kulasekara? The selection of Prasanna Jayawardene is interesting, so if they go in with four bowlers, they can consider picking him. Hopefully he'll get at least 20 runs regularly.

Only one player has played more then ten FC matches, i wouldn't be reading too much into the performances against this team. If your going to pick a bowler for his batting its got to be either Bandara or Maharoof. Both have the abilty to score 50s in Test Cricket and maybe a hundred in Maharoof case. If your going to pick bowlers for bowling then the pace attack would probably be Vaas, Malinga, Zoysa, but Maharoof probably out bowled Malinga and Zoysa of late, his just doesn't have as good career stats. Prasanna only got selected to give Sanagakkara a rest.

If Kapu goes on with this innings and has a good match against England A (if selected) he may hopefully bat at 7 and we play 7 batsmen and four bowlers. But knowing the selectors he would probably open the batting if he keep scores running and they will go with five bowlers again.

 

[JASON]

I hope Vandort scores some runs against England A, or we could see Muburak opening the batting in the 1st Test.

How about Tharanga opening with Kapugedera ?

Then it could be like this

Tharanga
Kapugedera ( if Van Dort fails to get some runs only)
Sangakkara
Jayawardene
Samaraweera
Dilshan
Maharoof (or Kapugedera)
Vaas
Zoysa
Murali
Malinga

 

[JASON]

What are your comments on Zoysa's batting and bowling? It seems he and Vaas scored chunks at eight and ten. And how was Kulasekara? The selection of Prasanna Jayawardene is interesting, so if they go in with four bowlers, they can consider picking him. Hopefully he'll get at least 20 runs regularly.

As good a keeper he might be, but I still don't see the point of picking him as WK only .

I don't think he offers much compared to Sanga . His selection would weaken the batting and Sanga does a good job doing both keeping and batting at 3. So I really doubt Prasanna J. would be selected for the Tests at this stage.

 

[chaminda_00]

How about Tharanga opening with Kapugedera ?

Then it could be like this

Tharanga
Kapugedera ( if Van Dort fails to get some runs only)
Sangakkara
Jayawardene
Samaraweera
Dilshan
Maharoof (or Kapugedera)
Vaas
Zoysa
Murali
Malinga

I still don't like the idea of going in with only six batsmen, our batting is too weak, i rather they give Dilshan and Samaraweera a few overs, rather then playing five specialist bowlers.

 

[alternative]

How about Tharanga opening with Kapugedera ?

Then it could be like this

Tharanga
Kapugedera ( if Van Dort fails to get some runs only)
Sangakkara
Jayawardene
Samaraweera
Dilshan
Maharoof (or Kapugedera)
Vaas
Zoysa
Murali
Malinga

I like what i see there.. Kapugedera is showing promising sign's than VanDort.. so i would go with him, while opting to take Maharoof in as an allrounder..

 

[JASON]

I still don't like the idea of going in with only six batsmen, our batting is too weak, i rather they give Dilshan and Samaraweera a few overs, rather then playing five specialist bowlers.

I take your point.

Since Vaas and Murali are certain to play , the next 2 bowling spots have to be a shoot out between Zoysa, Malinga and Maharoof.

IMO, they need to play all three against England A and then take 2 out of those 3 .

That way they can still still play Van Dort and Kapugedera .

 

[chaminda_00]

I take your point.

Since Vaas and Murali are certain to play , the next 2 bowling spots have to be a shoot out between Zoysa, Malinga and Maharoof.

IMO, they need to play all three against England A and then take 2 out of those 3 .

That way they can still still play Van Dort and Kapugedera .

This would be my side for England A:

Tharanga
Vandort
Sangakkara (wk)
Jayawardene (c)
Samarawerra
Kapugedera
Muburak *shadders*
Maharoof
Bandara
Zoysa
Malinga

Give Tharanga and Vandort some more time in the middle together. Let Maharoof, Bandara, Zoysa and Malinga have a shoot out. Give Dilshan a rest and bring in Muburak, might as well let him play so the selectors can see how crap he is again.

 

[JASON]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Excellent idea. A good way of playing most of the guys who need to prove themselves.

 

[Arjun]

Only one player has played more then ten FC matches, i wouldn't be reading too much into the performances against this team. If your going to pick a bowler for his batting its got to be either Bandara or Maharoof. Both have the abilty to score 50s in Test Cricket and maybe a hundred in Maharoof case. If your going to pick bowlers for bowling then the pace attack would probably be Vaas, Malinga, Zoysa, but Maharoof probably out bowled Malinga and Zoysa of late, his just doesn't have as good career stats. Prasanna only got selected to give Sanagakkara a rest.

If Kapu goes on with this innings and has a good match against England A (if selected) he may hopefully bat at 7 and we play 7 batsmen and four bowlers. But knowing the selectors he would probably open the batting if he keep scores running and they will go with five bowlers again.

As good a keeper he might be, but I still don't see the point of picking him as WK only .

I don't think he offers much compared to Sanga . His selection would weaken the batting and Sanga does a good job doing both keeping and batting at 3. So I really doubt Prasanna J. would be selected for the Tests at this stage.

You've got Jehan Mubarak close to a Test call-up. None of Zoysa, Prasanna or even Bandara can do far worse with the bat than him, and all have a dependable second skill. That can be said of a few other batsmen lucky to make the team just to 'boost the batting', only to score in slow bits and pieces.

Sangakkara is capable of scoring a lot more than he does these days, and he can score more if he concentrates on his batting. He's very much a batting mainstay, trying to build partnerships that can save or even win a match. He's better off saving runs in the outfield than wicketkeeping, which should be left to someone who is more specialised and more effective in speed, reflexes and technique. This is where the likes of JK Silva, Tharanga and even Prasanna will matter, but they should score at least 20 runs at eight or nine.

As for Maharoof, he can bat and he's one of the more automatic choices in the bowling plan, but don't expect him to shoulder the responsibility of bailing the team out with big scores. He needs a partner at seven or eight who will share that task with him, so the likes of Zoysa, Chandana or any other contender will come into play. However, they should be in or near the top bowling options to make the side– unlike a few pretenders picked for the national team in the recent past. Again, cynics will say that Zoysa has a meagre average, but it's reasonably good at five, eight and nine, while some specialist batsmen at seven struggle to even score ten runs, and none have the striking power that Zoysa has.

That reminds me– how does Bandara bat? He's supposed to be one of the better bowlers to play for the team from what I have seen. Another player of interest is Weerakoon from the reserve team playing in Abu Dhabi. Chandana doesn't seem a Test contender unless you look at his ten-wicket haul in Cairns.