< 1 minute read Here’s a post about Chaminda Vaas which deserves a second showing. Read that, then come back here. It took England two days to take six Sri Lankan wickets. Sri Lanka managed to take six English wickets by the time the score had reached 33. The world authority on subcontinental bowling
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England heading for fifth in ICC rankings
2 minute read If England don’t win this Test match, they’ll drop to fifth in the ICC’s Test rankings. With rain forecast and two days gone without one innings being completed, it looks like this’ll happen. We think it’s fair. Generally speaking, over their last few series, England have looked worthy and full
Continue readingHarmison in the wickets
< 1 minute read Pretty good, but he can do better still. We won’t really be satisfied until he runs through a side. That’s what Steve Harmison’s supposed to do – the Dreamland Steve Harmison who we regularly summon up when things aren’t going England’s way. The not-at-all-real Steve Harmison who embodies English cricketing
Continue readingThere’s a Test match in Galle
< 1 minute read Take that Mother Nature, you hooker. Okay, so you may have given that teddy bear special powers and turned him into SuperTed, but do you really think that balances out the tsunami? No, it doesn’t. This is our way of lauding the Sri Lankans for getting on with things and
Continue readingMichael Vaughan and Alastair Cook keep panic at bay
< 1 minute read It was far from a classic Test match. It felt like it was mapped out from the start and the players were just doing what they were expected to do. Now we’re no strangers to going through the motions, but we don’t put a professional veneer on like the cricketers
Continue readingDid anything happen today?
< 1 minute read Sri Lanka looked set for a large lead yesterday and Mahela Jayawardene had scored a hundred. At the close of play today Sri Lanka had a large lead and Mahela Jayawardene had scored a hundred. Very little else appears to have happened. So what shall we all do? A Test
Continue readingMahela Jayawardene not mad keen on getting out
2 minute read Prior to this match there was a bit of discussion as to whether it was best to bat first or second. It tends to be a brave move to insert the opposition upon winning the toss, but The Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Columbo has something of a reputation for
Continue readingHow to get Mahela Jayawardene out
< 1 minute read Have a tantrum. That’s what we’d do. Have a real, world-class, multi-award winning, all-time-hall-of-fame hissy fit. A proper toy-flinging, teary-eyed shamefest. The key is to act so insufferably badly that Jayawardene can’t look at you for embarrassment. You want to make him think: ‘This is intolerable. I literally can’t bear
Continue readingBad decisions don’t decide a Test
2 minute read England will be pretty disappointed to have only made 351 and they’ll point to a couple of rough decisions as being one cause, but if they’re a serious Test side, they should forget about them. It’s not like they’re going to get overturned after the match. Don’t dwell on it.
Continue readingIan Bell can’t see it out
< 1 minute read Both Ian Bell and Matt Prior withstood the Sri Lankans for quite some time, but they couldn’t finish the job. Muttiah Muralitharan got both of them – with the new ball, no less. Bell had a good match, but if you’re the batsman in form, you need to influence proceedings.
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