England Vs. SriLanka

[luckyeddie]

Originally Posted by tooextracool

yes if you look carefully there are more players out of form than players in form. and looking at some of englands recent performances people seem to get the mistaken view that everyone is in form and that they are 'playing as a team'.

You're bonkers, you are (or something).

[tooextracool]

so how many players are in form ATM then? giles,flintoff, harmison and collingwood?

[luckyeddie]

Originally Posted by tooextracool

so how many players are in form ATM then? giles,flintoff, harmison and collingwood?

Trescothick and Gough too are in fine fettle.

I'd be interested to hear which players you think are out of form

As far as team spirit (something you seem to take great pleasure in knocking) - I don't think I've ever seen a more 'together' group of players.

[JASON]

Originally Posted by biased indian

no its the reverse india played badly in the first 2 games and they lost then they plaued well in the third to win it.

no today SL played really bad .i dont know y they gifted flintoff with such easy deliveries.

and in the next game dont except AUS to play bad because they dont like to do that too often like india and SL

Congratulations to England and in particular Freddie, Harmison, Collingwood, Gough, Trescothick, Wharf (to come back after being hit for 13 runs in an over).

SL played OK on Day 1 despite dropping 2-3 catches and having 1 bad decision(Tresco), but Day 2 they played very poorly - dropping Freddie and Chandana's over of 22 runs!!

One opener may have got a bad decision but others batted poorly and for inexplicable reasons they went into a shell after hitting Wharf for 13 runs in an over!!

But Inconsistency is not something new for this SL team. They are moderately good at home but overseas they struggle. And this game proves the same!!

I hope England can go onto win the Champions Trophy, since England's Trophy cabinet is empty at the moment (With Regard to World Cups/Champions Trophies etc.) Hope it will change soon.

Looking ahead to Australia game, England will struggle. Aussies are not known to gift any freebies and unless England win the toss and put the Aussies in and all of England players are contributing (not just Freddie and Harmo)(particularly Vaughan, Strauss need to contribute) Australia will steam roll through.

[luckyeddie]

Originally Posted by JASON

One opener may have got a bad decision but others batted poorly and for inexplicable reasons they went into a shell after hitting Wharf for 13 runs in an over!!

I'm really racking my brains over this one - I thought every chance was a nailed-on certainty - Gunawardene clearly edged Harmison through to Jones (slomo showed the seam position 'flipping over') and the only thing bad decision-wise about Jayasuriya's dismissal was that he picked out the supremely athletic Darren Gough in the outfield

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by PY

I wonder how it might have been different if Murali had been playing.

Well Maharoof did have 1-19 from his 10.

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by Scaly piscine

Solanki misses his chance to redeem himself

2 chances at that...

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by tooextracool

not a failure, not a success

So scoring 39 and helping add 90 at more than run a ball to help England get a score which looked far from likely when he went in isn't a success?

He rotated the strike to Flintoff quite superbly and also played some big shots himself.

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by tooextracool

but look at recent performances, everytime england have got even a half decent score in the last 2 series its been because of flintoff.

If he didn't have someone down the other end, that wouldn't work.

He's had good support from Collingwood recently (and only got 6 in our 290-odd the other day)

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by tooextracool

tresco-no
solanki - yes
vaughan- hell no
strauss - no
flintoff - lets leave him out of it
collingwood - maybe
jones - no

Tresco - just made 60-odd, a very good knock in the conditions.
Solanki - 1 good score in 5 games since his recall, and still keeps getting out poorly.
Vaughan - agreed.
Strauss - agreed.
Collingwood - definitely is.
Jones - how can you judge when he's not had many balls to bat?

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by tooextracool

nope anything under 50 cant be a success

I don't remember you saying that about that Read knock in the West Indies a few months back...

[Craig]

Well played England and Andrew Flintoff.

Tight bowling by the Sri Lankans forced him to play more defensively (and Trescothick), but when he needed to up the run rate and get a move on, he was clearly able to.