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Bairstow MOTM. Harsh on Jimmy that, for me.

Nah, right choice for me mate. Bairstow made batting look easy in difficult conditions and in a match where all the batsmen struggled, even Hales had to work very hard for the runs he scored.

 

I love Jimmy, he's my favourite player in the current team, and he bowled superbly, but even he would say the conditions were very much in his favour, and he was up against a very inexperienced batting lineup.

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I don't think Gough was a patch on Broad and Anderson. And I did like Gough.

 

He was inconsistent for me, as was Caddick.

Gough was very talented (I remember the 5 wickets and fifty he scored against Australia) but zero discipline and so cannot be recognised in the same breath as Anderson and broad

 

there was no DRS and neutral umpires so it could be argued that it's harsh to compare

 

Thorpe was a truely great batsmen. Underrated

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SL never used to be a decent Test team, they just hit on a Golden generation who made their name in the shorter game to begin with then carried that on into Tests, they could be in big trouble now if the don't find a few decent top order batsmen. Great catch by Finn as I type, 8 down and still need 9 to avoid the follow on.

We were decent enough to beat England at home in the nineties and for much of the 00's

It's a misnomer that we were good in one days and then tests. In reality, no one wanted to play us in test cricket

In 1996 we lucked onto a forumla, and due to the civil war, the draw was kind and we went to beat the Aussies in the final

The defeat in the 96 final is still one of Shane warnes most bitter memories - and that (plus murali vs hair) has meant that Australia vs Sri Lanka is always a grudge match ( unlike England )

 

Murali and blatant pitch doctoring and non neutral umpires meant we beat nearly everyone at home, but we awful away from home

 

All that is happened now is that we are awful everywhere

 

Sanga and Mahela only really appeared in the 00's - at that point we did have better form - but were robbed of the best fast bowler ( who would have easily matched Anderson and broad) in test cricket in Malinga ( a similar store to Bond for NZ )

 

Malinga chased the rupee and also being thick decided to quit tests

 

Sanga is a great player, but pretty selfish and could still be playing on. Mahela is useless now

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I know Sri Lanka are in transition etc but still, this has been a good performance so far. I was watching that "England in the 90's" programme the other day and it makes you appreciate the team we have now.

 

We're not without fault but more often than not we have players who stand up and contribute when it's needed.

England need to batter SL and Pakistan. No mercy. Australian style

 

They also need to find long term replacements for Anderson and broad - Finn looks shot and wood is injuried.

 

Anything but woakes

 

I'd bring back butler and tell Barstow to bat ahead of stokes. Someone need to tell stokes he isn't the big show, he has immense talent but he is going to flush it away if he doesn't engage his brain

 

Not sure about Hales or Compton. But defo not bell returning. There are some good openers floating around

 

Ali batting has gone to shit. He needs to actually try to play properly.

 

Rashid could play in these tests as he will be needed all winter long

 

The hard test will be Bangladesh ( who are improving and are hungry - England should beat them but they are toughing up with a great SL coach.

 

India will try to do to England what they did to SA but maybe it will backfire.... ( produce heavily worn pitches )

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Nah, they were top drawer. Anyone that got 7k/8k test runs in that era of bowling was top class. Thorpe averaged 45 which was the same as Azharuddin and Kirsten (chosen because they were other top class players of the same era), and had to play half his games on English pitches.

 

Yeah, we had no-one in the Tendulkar/Lara/Waugh/Kallis bracket, but then we're talking about some of the best batsman of all time there.

 

You don't think Gough was top drawer? I could probably accept Stewart might not have been, but Gough? Gough was a great bowler. A complete tit, yes, but a great bowler.

Thorpe CHOSE to bat left handed because it looked better. Let that sink in.

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Bairstow obviously had a good game and it was one of those two. 10-fers are very rare though, a lot more than tons.

 

 

Jimmys figures for the test were;

 

25.1 Overs, 11 Maidens, 10 Wickets for 45 Runs.

 

I can't ever remember stats like that not getting MOTM.

 

Definitely an award for the home player.

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9 catches as well though in fairness but yeah, those figures are tremendous

Not knocking Bairstow at all, but you or I could have taken half those catches.

 

To be fair to the ginger ninja he was the only batsman in 3 innings to actually bat with ease, but those figures from Jimmy are fucking incredible.

 

Favourable conditions or not.

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At 5-85 they were in the game. Then it went to shit. Still, a good experience for a young Sri Lankan team to face a strong team in England away in very English conditions and against a new-ball attack extremely well-suited to English conditions. 

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Would people go for Ball or Woakes?

 

Ball. Shift everyone up one - there should still be enough batting depth to keep ahead of SL and the extra firepower (given that Ball looks a touch more threatening than Stokes but without the batting or the "big moments" bowling - T20 final notwithstanding) would more than make up for it if not. Woakes seems like a decent enough bloke and I can't fault his effort, but for whatever reason he's just not taken the wickets in Tests.

 

Think they'll plump for Woakes though, the management seem pretty keen on having an all-rounder in there (on top of Moeen).

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Woakes scored a century last week and yesterday took 9 for 30 odd so would be harsh to overlook him I think.

 

 

He's the perfect like for like replacement agreed.

 

But in my opinion Ball is the better bowler and against such a side we know we're going to beat now is thew perfect time to give him a chance.

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