I'm about the same on Eng vs. SL atm. Although both would likely win at home, England would be more likely to win in SL than SL in Eng, hence England marginally ahead in my book. That said, certainly not by the distant margin the thread owner's making out.
Isn't Murali going to retire after his next test series against the West Indies? After that I can't see them beating a top 4 side even at home especially now that England has finally got a decent spinner.
Unless I am severely mistaken, SL is a top 4 side, England is a fair distance away from them in the rankings.
I never said there was a "distant margin" between the two sides, i merely said England are in the top four right now and when you consider the recent records of both sides i'd say that notion is justified, it's all good speculating on "who would win" and stuff but the fact is WI already done what you are claiming SL "can do", which is why i think it's ridiculous to claim WI have "no chance" of beating the top four again in the near future.
Just to clarify where you stand, are you denying that the gap between Eng & SL is a smaller one than the gap between SL & the WI?
Ah is he? Oh well Harath and Mendis will step up. Maybe..
I think there's the top four, SL and us, then the rest, Pakistan would be included in the middle group if they could sort themselves out, at the end of the day however much you wanna big up Sri Lanka the fact remains that they haven't beaten a top side for over two years, until they do claiming they are so much better than a side who has (WI) is a little blinkered imo.
IMHO, There's a wide wide gap between SL and WI
SL haven't beaten a top side for two years so there's nothing to justify them being on England's level and "way above" WI, recent results simply doesn't back up that notion.
Beat India in 2008. Check through the list of series I've posted here. Other than India, we haven't played any of the so called top sides in the last 2 years. Its all fine and dandy to say we haven't beaten any of the top sides when we haven't even played them. You've said it over three times now, play another record.
Sri Lanka in England Test Series 2006 drawn 1-1 (3)
South Africa in Sri Lanka Test Series 2006 Sri Lanka 2-0 (2)
Sri Lanka in New Zealand Test Series 2006/07 drawn 1-1 (2)
Bangladesh in Sri Lanka Test Series 2007 Sri Lanka 3-0 (3)
Warne-Muralitharan Trophy (Sri Lanka in Australia) 2007/08 Australia 2-0 (2)
England in Sri Lanka Test Series 2007/08 Sri Lanka 1-0 (3)
Sri Lanka in West Indies Test Series 2007/08 drawn 1-1 (2)
India in Sri Lanka Test Series 2008 Sri Lanka 2-1 (3)
Sri Lanka in Bangladesh Test Series 2008/09 Sri Lanka 2-0 (2)
Sri Lanka in Pakistan Test Series 2008/09 drawn 0-0 (2)
Pakistan in Sri Lanka Test Series 2009 Sri Lanka 2-0 (3)
New Zealand in Sri Lanka Test Series 2009 Sri Lanka 2-0 (2)
Sri Lanka in India Test Series 2009/10 India 2-0 (3)Yeah, they've been very impressive in recent times, but i have a feeling they may have a slight decline soon.
SL in fact is in top 4. They are better than ENG at the moment.
We have two very good spinners in Randiv and Senanayake. Would come good hopefully.
Last time India and SAF played in SL was spanked too.This isn't about "rankings" because surely one must take into account who has been playing who over the last year or so?so while England have beaten Australia in the Ashes and got a draw in South Africa Sri Lanka just got spanked by India, i mean really who in their right mind would say England wasn't one of the top four sides RIGHT NOW!!? the very fact that it's taken you six posts to come up with your "stats" suggest even you don't believe it, furthermore don't you think WI's rankings were effected by the players strike by any chance? had our best side have played against Bangladesh i'm sure we'd have been better off, but you can ignore those points if it suits your argument.
And how many top sides did they play in last 2 years?