RIP SL cricket thread

[Jono]

That is true, but what I'm talking about is not about right now or a year ago. Its about the constant state of the game over the last few decades (perhaps ever). Test cricket has too few sides to have out and out ****house teams all the time, and so many of them.

In league sports (AFL, EPL, NFL etc etc) that is fine, as these leagues have 15-20 (sometimes more) teams. So there will always be **** ones, mediocre ones and good ones. But test cricket is a sport with onlu 8 proper teams and where teams don't play every team every year. Sometimes teams don't meet for years. If that is the case the sport needs to have more than 2-3 good teams going around in these "eras".

Test cricket has always been like this I know. In fact it has been worse in the past. So its not like now is "the worst period ever". But fmd it grates when you want cricket to be your favourite sport and you see **** like NZ and SL served up in the last month.

[NasserFan207]

Originally Posted by Jono

That is true, but what I'm talking about is not about right now or a year ago. Its about the constant state of the game over the last few decades (perhaps ever). Test cricket has too few sides to have out and out ****house teams all the time, and so many of them.

In league sports (AFL, EPL, NFL etc etc) that is fine, as these leagues have 15-20 (sometimes more) teams. So there will always be **** ones, mediocre ones and good ones. But test cricket is a sport with onlu 8 proper teams and where teams don't play every team every year. Sometimes teams don't meet for years. If that is the case the sport needs to have more than 2-3 good teams going around in these "eras".

Test cricket has always been like this I know. In fact it has been worse in the past. So its not like now is "the worst period ever". But fmd it grates when you want cricket to be your favourite sport and you see **** like NZ and SL served up in the last month.

Worst part is when teams like NZ and SL shoot themselves in the foot. They are both already at a disadvantage in world cricket, then they go and make things even worse.

[Athlai]

Do do do do do de do do do do do do do do do
Senanana
Do doo be-do-do
Senanana
Do do-do do
Senanana
Do doo de-do-do de-do-do de-do-do de-do-do-doodle do do do-doo do!!!!

[Sarun]

I think it's time take the bats for SL team, burn them, compile the ash into an urn and award the urn to the current team that whitewashed SL.

[Maximas]

I think the Mahala/Sanga combination still has 2/3 years left, and it seems that Chandimal, Thirrimanne and Karuneratne are good young players. It's hard to tour Australia, especially when half the teams gets injured. Bowlers are a problem though, if Welegedara stays fit then fast bowling won't be too bad, particularly with Kulasekara providing control from the other end, Herath can go on a few years as the spinner as well. SL haven't got much test cricket this year, so they have a chance to rebuild and look ahead to some big tours in 2014/15.

[Black_Warrior]

Bowling is crap after Vaas and Murali.
Fielding which was Sri Lanka's strongest suit..I still believe they are the best fielding side among sub continental teams but poor fitness levels are effecting that.
Batting apart from Sanga is crap outside of Sri Lanka.

The solution is very simple, go back to first class cricket, invest, and get these players to play as much first class as possible, in challenging conditions..so that you don't have another Jayawardene who will score hundreds and double hundreds at home and quietly go AWOL on overseas tours.

[Cricketismylife]

Originally Posted by Black_Warrior

Bowling is crap after Vaas and Murali.
Fielding which was Sri Lanka's strongest suit..I still believe they are the best fielding side among sub continental teams but poor fitness levels are effecting that.
Batting apart from Sanga is crap outside of Sri Lanka.

The solution is very simple, go back to first class cricket, invest, and get these players to play as much first class as possible, in challenging conditions..so that you don't have another Jayawardene who will score hundreds and double hundreds at home and quietly go AWOL on overseas tours.

Agree with most of this but don't fully agree with your point on Jayawardene. While it's true he hasn't done much outside the subcontinent he has contributed to so many victories in Sri Lanka in challenging conditions. He has racked up a number of impressive innings on turning pitches where he has been one of the few players on either side to make runs and has been the difference.

Sri Lanka do need to compete away from home, but right now they aren't actually doing that well at home either, and winning at home is equally important at winning away. Players who score heavily at home should not be taken for granted, and I don't see Sri Lanka finding another player in the near future who will score anywhere near as big runs in Sri Lanka and set up victories like Jayawardene did. I would gladly take another Jayawardene.