England make progress in shorter game
There was no obvious let-up from England, especially in the field, but they did succumb tamely in the once Sri Lanka's pace bowlers had got on top on another tricky surface.
The size of the defeat took some of the sheen off England's series victory and left them seventh in the ODI rankings. A win would have propelled them into fourth place.
during the last two months when the focus has been solely on the shorter game.
The sustained aggressiveness of their fielding - the right sort of aggression - has stood out and the return of Ryan Sidebottom has been decisive here. It has not been a series for batsmen on either side because of the nature of the pitches - only Chamara Silva reached fifty twice - so it is hard to draw too many conclusions.
Phil Mustard is worth having another look at despite a best score of 28. It was a chastening experience for him under the lights against Sri Lanka’s accomplished seam attack, but there were hints of the damage he could do on flatter pitches.
This certainly was not one of them and it was superbly exploited by Dilhara Fernando and Chaminda Vaas. Fernando's clever slower ball has had batsmen guessing throughout the series and it was responsible for three of his six wickets.
Attention now switches to December's Test series. England have a month off while Sri Lanka face a severe examination in a two match series in Australia.
The England selectors name their squad on Friday with one of the players under consideration after another superb county season. It would be a backward move, though, to pick him at the age of 38 and it is likely the selectors will ultimately resist recalling him five years after his last Test appearance.
Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar are certain to fill the spinners' berths but two other areas will be under scrutiny, the wicket-keeping position and the composition of the pace attack.
must prove he is fit to return. Even if he is, there must be a temptation to stick with the bowlers who have done so well here in the last fortnight. Matthew Hoggard will return to supplement them.
Matt Prior is the best batsmen of the available keepers and with some reservations he is worth persevering with for now. There are plenty of candidates for his place but no outstanding one.
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I think the way Srilanka beat us in last ODI,we should not embarass ourselves more.
We are really blackspot on the name of cricket and should not play for 2-3 years at least.
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Ramprakash should play, despite his age, in the forthcoming test series.
One of the reasons that his test average is so low is the fact that he kept being placed at 6 or 7, running out of partners before he could build an innings.
The last few years at Surrey has shown that he is a run making machine, capable of pulling it off against the best bowlers around.
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Bowling - superb throughout.
Fielding - ditto
teamship - excellent
Captaincy - ditto
BATTING?
ABYSSMAL (except for the lower order)
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I feel that it is fruitless to expend so much analysis for each and every ODI game, (as appears to happen on 606) and this article begins to address this. A single ODI game tells us little or nothing about the caliber of the two teams. Just because a batsmen fails in one ODI is not a cause for immediate calls to replace the batsmen. I think that to even begin to have a thorough analysis of players after a single ODI series is questionable.
That being said, i believe there are general trends that can be taken away from this past series. Firstly, England are finally sorting out their bowling problems successfully. That England won any game at all was largely due to the efforts of the bowlers, who were superb (though anderson is still expensive). Secondly, England's batting lineup is still very vulnerable and prone to collapse. In almost all of the games, there were batting collapses, and it was almost always the determined efforts of 1 or 2 batsmen that gave the innings any sense of cohesion whatsoever. Unfortunately, this is not a good strategy to approach the game with. England cannot win in the long-term without a stronger batting lineup.
Phil Mustard has done his job well. He was called in to be a pinch hitter in the opening overs, to hit balls quickly and provide impetus to the innings. This he did well. it isnt his fault, that when he leaves the crease there is a batting collapse that takes care of England's middle order.
Finally, Sri Lanka are still very dependent on Murali. Of course, it is impossible to replace a player of such caliber and skill, but Sri Lanka need to start thinking of what will happen when Murali inevitably retires.
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While for me 'Test' cricket over the 5 day span is my preference and also I think the best way to make a true judgment on a players ability I fully realise the games 'shortened' versions are here to stay and can of course be highly enjoyable and full of memorable moments but from one game to another it does appear that player performance can vary quite alarmingly,so is it due to the games format or to players being unable at times to put two good games together, so with this question in mind I would have to say the England team is for sure an inconsistent performer and certainly does'nt fill me with confidence to tackle a good Australian team for instance in this one day format,they've won this series but I still think there's a 'grey' area in their mindset at difficult times.
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The test players in the one day squad need to stay out in sri lanka and the other test players fly out now. to prepare properly has they would be playing during the midday sun at its hottest not in the cool of the night. them coming home for a month is step back to the fletcher days of lack of proper preparation and little 3 or 4 days.
Places like South Africa, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Austalia and New Zealand require proper preparation of being there a month before the series and playing proper 3 or 4 day games
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i have to disagree with Prior being the best batting option, other than the frist Windies test he has been terrible with the bat!
Also I don't think picking Ramprakash would be a backward step, althoguth he is not gonna be around forever, when he last played for england he wasnt as good as he is now, and we need to be seen to rewad players who play well domestically, 4000 runs in 2 season at average of over 100, is simply the best domestic form the world have ever seen, fact! And he therefore deserves one last chance to score some runs for england.
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I can't help thinking that knee-jerk disappointment can produce some strange comments. Why not look at the final ODI in Sri Lanka from another point of view? It was always going to be a difficult game once the toss was lost and England knew they would have to repeat their winning performance against the odds. The England team had out-performed themselves to win this Series. They were a young team in hostile territory where England have never prospered before. Sri Lanka were always going to fight harder in the final ODI to save their pride. They had more to lose. I thought the England players looked exhausted after keeping Sri Lanka to 211. Bowling and fielding had been at the highest tempo in very hot and humid conditions. Judging by the amount of sweat coming off the players I wouldn't describe evenings in Colombo as cool. Exhaustion can take its toll and batting on unfriendly pitches under lights needs extra concentration. I think the collapse was indicative of the team having peaked in the previous game when they needed to. I was a bit surprised that Peter Moores talked about his successful team as if they were naughty schoolboys needing extra homework. To ask too much can be as dangerous as asking too little. Meanwhile I think England deserves credit as a team for its remarkable win and team spirit.
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It hardly feels like the time to crack open the champagne, even if winning in Sri Lanka in such a series is a first and therefore promising. I'd rather keep the champagne for the rugby final next week, just in case England can defy the odds and win that.
So England's one-day side are still ranked seventh? That feels about right. It's a case of winning the next series, and the next, and so on...
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Be it in cricket, rugby or football England is making steady progress all over again. The talented youngsters are beginning to do justice to their enormous talents and ofcourse putting to good use the excellent infrastructure for sports in their country.
The English cricketers have fared well in the Emerald islands and done their bit in keeping the morale high of fellow players and their legion of admirers and well wishers world wide.
The current Lankan side has many match winners among their bowlers. Left armer Joseph Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan have been the wreckers in chief and matchwinners for their side for over a decade. Fernando, Malinga and Mahroof are known to give nightmares to batters.
England too are developing into a good bowling side. Let us wish the two teams all the very best in the forthcoming Test series.
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Why do the same old sayings get peddled about the wicketkeepers e.g. he is a good batsman, he isn't, when the stats don't really seem to prove it. Case in point - Chris Read averages about 12 against Australia (after being treated terribly and averaging about 40 against Pakistan) but has a great wk display with 2 x 6 wickets innnings and this is described as worth chucking him out of the team. Prior averages about 14 at home against India and had 'that' match with the terrible drops, and is still described as the best batsmen and we might as well keep him?
Chris Read may not be good enough, but in that case none of the other candidates are either.
Mustard is proposed based on a few one day matches and Ambrose because of one iniings in May....??
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Congratulations England for the series victory..As statistics suggested its really hard beating SL at home..SL is an extremely talented and an awesome team and credit is due to England for taking the series..
That being said, I congratulate the SL team as well for putting up a good fight despite all the negativity going on behind the scenes with regard to selections and administration in general..
And, although the matches were all low-scoring affairs, they were all exciting nevertheless..
Get well soon Murali, and Sanath, please get back into form!..Hope the selection team makes good on training others to take the great Murali's (and others that are at the end of their careers playing for SL) place..It will be hard, but they have to start sometime!
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Great win for the lads wasn't it. Can't help thining that we are somehow missing a trick
with the batting selection.
Perhaps this is why they are considering a
recall for ramps.
I can't see room for Vaughn Bell and Strauss all in the same team for much longer. Cook, KP and Colly seem the only dead certs
in the test team. Which leaves one opening slot and three batting positions.
Bopara looks like he is going to be hard to leave out over next eighteen months.
So
Cook
?
?
KP
Colly
Bopara
?
?
Hoggy
Harmy
Monty
Your thoughts?
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If Ramps is recalled how long before the Hick must play bandwaggon gets rolling!! Sorry but a great county season shouldn't mean a recall for a 38 year old yesterday's man who was found wanting at the very highest level. Coming in at 6 or 7 hasn't exactly hampered Gilchrist's average has it and he's had a few rabbits coming after him!
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If Symonds trying to gain sympathy from his team mates then good luck to him. The police chief of Vidodhara commented upon Symonds slamming the local cricket board about monkey chants.
We had seen the complete video footage of the match, we didn't find a single sign targetting Symonds the way he presumed. There were police standing inside the boundary fence, and none had heard any abusive comments being said to Symonds, it is not clear to us how the person on the other side standing 5 to 10 feet away from the fence could hear those comments.
If you do not understand the local language then don't accuse these cricket lovers of spoiling your party, he commented.
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Cook
Vaughan
Ramprakash
K.P
Collingwood
Bell
Prior
Swann/Anderson depending on the wicket
Sidebottom
Hoggard
Panesar
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england won the series
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England need to play their best if they want to beat Sri Lanka. Their top order batsmen were dissapointing in the one day series. Bowles were fantastic. Fielding was'nt bad.
I think England squad should be like this
Cook
Vaughan
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior
Swann
Hoggard
Sidebottom
Anderson
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So much changes are been made in cricket but i feel there is still one change to be done the 11th batsman should be given a chance to bat untill he gets out by giving him a non palying runner as it is unfair not getting to play eventhough he is notout.
hope the cricket thinktank wil give a fair trial
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Why is the inclusion of Ramps considered to be a backward step?
There is no goal to aim for within the test arena to achieve than to become #1 (except perhaps the Ashes from an English point of view). So why blood in youth when you have guys scoring 4000 runs over 2 county seasons?!
He deserves one last hurrah because he is without doubt one of the most talented Englishman to have ever graced the game. If he was 10yrs younger with a central contract from Fletcher could well have become one of the worlds best.
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