Indian Cricket
Pussycats Abroad
By Gaurang
May 20 2011
Sri Lanka look to reverse their woeful Test record abroad as they take on a confident England, coming off a recent Ashes win.
Sri Lanka are about to take on England in a three Test series and the prospects for the Lankans do not look good. Without Muttiah Muralitharan to bring depth to their spin attack and even more devastatingly without Lasith Malinga, the leading bowler in the IPL by a mile, to bring penetration and bit of fire to their attack, the Lankans look outmatched from the get go. At one time, mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis would have been a big factor, but he seems to have been sorted out by the world's batsmen thanks to wall to wall coverage and the video analysis techniques now available.
Sri Lanka have never won a Test series in England, though they did win a one-off Test in the 1990s when Muralitharn took 16 wickets at the Oval. In fact Sri Lanka have never won a Test, let alone a series in Australia, South Africa and India. So it will be quite a challenge for newbie Captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan and his right hand man, Coach Stuart Law, to avoid another series loss abroad.
In their first tour game the Lankans beat a weak Middlesex team, which except for Captain Andrew Strauss, was mostly rookies and has beens. The Lankans to their credit managed to win the match quite handily. But their next match agaisnt a much stronger English Lions team is probably a better indication of the challenges they will face. In that match the Lions amassed nearly 500 runs before declaring and then dismissing the Lankans for 260 odd in the first innings, setting up a potential follow on situation. Whether the Lions press home their advantage or choose to give some of their batsmen who missed out in the first innings another chance, remains to be seen, but in either case the Lankans are looking in desperate straits.
In fact Stuart law is so concerned it would seem that while talking about the chances of his team, he called the English side the "Best Current Test Team", never mind that England are a whopping thirteen points behind India in the current ICC Test rankings. One wonder's what comments Law would have made if his team were taking on India. In any case one must admire Law's desire to set expectations at approrpiate levels afterall who can blame him if the team he coaches loses to the "Best Current Test Team"
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20/05/2011 21:07
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India - World Cup winners 2011!!!
Champions Trophy winners 2013!!!
Congrats to Indian team and all Indian fans!
They win by 38 runs against England Lions after following on...
Good job Lanka!
India - World Cup winners 2011!!!
Champions Trophy winners 2013!!!
Congrats to Indian team and all Indian fans!
Calls playing them "The Toughest Deal On the Planet".... which planet is he living on?....
Quote:Max
Good article. Whatever little success Sri Lanka has had in overseas Test matches over the years, it has been almost entirely due to Murali. Now with him retired, it's going to be even more difficult for them. Still let's hope that the Lankans manage to rattle England, which will be good for India who tour England later.
Murali had 8 five wicket hauls versus England the next best Sri Lankan has ONE... and looking at this attack can't see them getting one this series...
India - World Cup winners 2011!!!
Champions Trophy winners 2013!!!
Congrats to Indian team and all Indian fans!
The UDRS has been a very good system thus far and is certainly improved the quality of the decision making where it has been used.
Quote:Max
True Birbal. And btw, I noticed that the 3rd umpire was very quick to give the benefit of the doubt to England in some of the referrals. So even with all the supposed technology, it seems umpiring is not 100% free from bias. Maybe the BCCI are right to oppose the UDRS.
Bias is bias.
If the field umpire's decision can be appealed, the third umpire may be biased.
Who can appeal the third umpire?
Even when video shows what may be obvious, we've seen the third umpire go the other way.
Even if the Lankans lost it in a big way, they deserve to have their appeals fairly evaluated. Otherwise UDRS is a charade.
The BCCI is right, but for the wrong reasons. They should insist on what Dhoni was commenting on - the overruling of technology by third umpires/
true Pussycat abroad...?
we will see if rearguard can somehow get Lanka past 200...and what SL seamers get on this pitch
No team wants that. If they played later in the summer when pitches would be drier more sun higher temps they might just give the english team a better fight.
If they touch 200 it might just be a par score.
never undertsand why lankans play only 5 specialist batsmen
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:06:17:18:30:35 by shilpa.
What might Malinga have done on this pitch?
If the two of them were included...this side could have been competitive...
Quote:Birbal
And old Vaasy is cleaning up in the County games...
If the two of them were included...this side could have been competitive...
this side may still by the look of things go back with a drawn series
Quote:Birbal
You must be joking.... If Sri Lanka win the 3rd Test... I will be shocked... and call for ACU investigation...
I was speaking before the 3rd day play started...with a lot of optimism and support for the underdog
But for one bad session where they collapsed for 80odd....they would have walked away with honors even.
I don't think Eng would gain a LOT of ranking points out of a 1-0 win.
However if we end up 1-0 scoreline against WI...we might lose ICC points also.
Quote:Birbal
Actually Lanka is ranked higher than England in Tests...so they should gain a few pon
from what I saw just on Ten sports....Eng is 3rd with 116 points ahead of SL with only 107
India - World Cup winners 2011!!!
Champions Trophy winners 2013!!!
Congrats to Indian team and all Indian fans!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:06:21:19:01:41 by Birbal.
Lanka have regressed amazingly...
And Flat Track Bullies in batting are getting their butts handed to them...
What a SHELLACKING...
It could really be us in our next Aussie tour :-(
Only player who has done well in Australia, Sangakarra has had his hand broken by Johnson... and is out of the tour..
I fear it is only going to get worse.
Quote:Birbal
What has 0-8 performance of India got to do with commenting on Lankans they SUCK overseas... and that is the TRUTH...
That was a sarcastic comment. but it did not come out well on the internet...
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