England v Sri Lanka

Dubai_Devil said:
England A are whooping the Lankans.
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Sri Lanka have fallen from grace.

It's a shame, they produced some great batsmen plus Murali over the last decade.
 
Our batting has been a disgrace over the last few years and most of the promising youngsters aren't given a chance due to corruption within the cricket board. Most players are chosen due to political influence rather than on merit.

I can't see us doing well in the future until there are drastic changes within the board. Another problem is there aren't replacements for Murali and Vaas and wonder what is going to happen when they retire.
 
Pakistan is the real test for England this summer. So hopefully the batsman can deal with Vaas and Murali and the young bowlers such as Mahmood likely to play can come through and show they are good enough to play at Test Level.
 
heffa said:
The fact is it won't happen again, you won't win the series in Australia lightening doesn't strike the same place twice.
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I think you'll find it would have struck in two different hemisphere's. But hey, what do I know of Australian education?

The real fact is, you are still only offering if's, but's and maybe's. The certanties will only be revealed when it's all said and done. Between now and then, bear in mind that our pace attack may bugger you to kingdom-come, and work out how your lot will cope with it.
 
Sultan said:
Sri Lanka have fallen from grace.

It's a shame, they produced some great batsmen plus Murali over the last decade.
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I agree it is a real shame they can't even produce good one day batsmen any more 10 or so years ago they had the best array of one day players in the world. Now they struggle to produce average players.
 
Sri Lanka all out for 118 in their second innings.

England A need just 26 more runs for the win.

That Lewis bloke looks quite a good bowler.
 
He could get the nod over Mahmood on the back of this performance.
 
king-eric said:
He could get the nod over Mahmood on the back of this performance.
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You need more than one performance to deserve a call up to international level though if he has good form other than this match he should get it but not simply on this performance.
 
Mahmood isn't exactly a tried and tested superstar though is he?
It would be a risk choosing either of them, but its a choice they have to make due to the injury situation.
On the basis of this performance against the Sri Lankans, it is quite concievable that they would choose Lewis ahead of Mahmood.
We'll find out tomorrow either way.
 
Plus, Lewis played in the one dayers agianst the Aussies before the Ashes.
 
They might pick both Lewis and Mahmood. But I reckon both Plunkett and Mahmood will get the nod before Lewis.

The squad for the first test against Sri lanka I reckon will be: Flintoff (captian), Trescothick, Strauss, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Jones (wk), Plunkett, Hoggard, Mahmood, Panesar, Lewis.
 
The team is apparently...

Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff*
Jones+
Hoggard

All confirmed with..

Bell in if we choose to play a batsman instead of a Panesar.

Two of Lewis, Mahmood and Plunkett if we play an extra bat or spinner OR all three if we want a 5 man seam attack.


Got it? Good.
 
Trescothick should have been made sweat for a few games - not like England were likely to lose without him anyway...
 
This would be my team,

tres
strauss
cook
pietersen
bell
collingwood
flintoff
jones
plunkett
hoggard
mahmood

early may conditions,ball likely to seam and swing alot.Can't see it going to 5 days weather permitting so a stronger batting line up for the extra runs and we should have enough in the four seamers and a few overs from bell,colly and pietersen.Might pick lewis for his performance in the warm up match but feel it wouldn't be fair on players of the future.
 
Looks like the selectors were listening to me and have put Cook in at number three.

I guess it's a tossup between Lewis and Mahmood.
 
nealn said:
Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
Pieterson
Collingwood
Flintoff *
Jones +
Plunkett
Mahmood
Hoggard
Panesar

I reckon...
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That's the team I picked before the squad was announced. :D
 
nealn said:
Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
Pieterson
Collingwood
Flintoff *
Jones +
Plunkett
Mahmood
Hoggard
Panesar

I reckon...
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Theo Walcott is set for a late call up
 
Looks like Jayasuriya has been called from retirement, just goes to show how badly our batsmen have been doing.
 
roonaldo78 said:
Looks like Jayasuriya has been called from retirement, just goes to show how badly our batsmen have been doing.
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Looks like he'll be back for the 2nd test.

He never should have retired in the first place.
 
Dubai_Devil said:
Looks like he'll be back for the 2nd test.

He never should have retired in the first place.
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Yeah, should have played on until the world cup and then retired from both forms of the game. It was some of the board members who wanted him to step down as its preventing youngsters from emerging but now they have realized that the youngsters aren't good enough.
 
Team: ME Trescothick, AN Cook, AJ Strauss, PD Collingwood,
KP Pietersen, *A Flintoff, +GO Jones, MS Panesar, LE Plunkett,
MJ Hoggard, SI Mahmood.
 
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