ENGLAND V SRI LANKA 3RD TEST DEC 18TH TO DEC 22ND

I know its a bit of a cliche but the cricket almost becomes secondary to the occasion in the 3rd test at Galle which is staging its first match since the devastation of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

The England team have quite rightly made no complaints about the state of the pitch and the stadium facilities which may not quite be ready in time for the first days play and are just concentrating on the bigger picture.Day 1, England (making one change, Matthew Hoggard in for Broad) elect to bowl first, a brave decision or a crazy one, only time will tell, honours slightly more to England as Sri Lanka finish 147 for 4.

Day 2 England's chances of levelling the series seem pretty slim as the Sri Lankans finish the day 384 -6 in a frustrating and fruitless day, catches are dropped and more time is lost, only a monumental effort from here will snatch a victory.

Day 3 The less said about England's performance today the better. All out for 81 and the follow on enforced, it will take pretty much a miracle to save the game now

Day 4 And the miracle might happen (or at least the weather will) as England finish 102 for 1 in their second knock looking to avoid an innings defeat as the heavy rain puts paid to a full days play.

Day 5 A draw is achieved through more heavy rain and a little bit of help from Alistair Cooks resolute knock.

Summing up the series, England were second best but I don`t think they were totally outplayed, there were a number of important sessions which didn't quite go their way and they failed to capitalise on missed opportunities.

Bowling and batting England were slightly below par, Kevin Pietersen failed to have any knock of significance and although other batsmen made some runs, none of them went on to a big score, even Cook failed to carry on (when it was really needed) in his brave century in the last test.

The bowling seemed muted, Panesar was hardly a threat and the honeymoon period is maybe over for him.

I still believe England have the nucleus of a very good squad, Sri Lanka is a very difficult place to tour and a lot of these players were playing for the first time there, the England management must persist with young players if they think they are good enough and not chop and change like the old days.

ENGLAND V SRI LANKA 2ND TEST 9TH DEC TO 13TH DEC 2007

On to Colombo (wasn't he a scruffy detective) and the second test, England make a couple of changes, Harmison in (surely this guy owes England a good match) and Broad (no argument there, although it sounds like hes been brought in to strength the tail rather than for his bowling prowess).
Day One ends fairly evenly although Sri Lanka are possibly the happier team, Vaughan and Cook couldn't really capitalise on good beginnings. Pietersen was unlucky but he did edge it, he needs a big innings soon, Bopara didn't have a chance with his dismissal and its left to Collingwood and Prior to steady the ship.


Day 2 Once again, fairly even, England make 351, could have been better, could have been worse, Two quick Sri Lankan wickets and England's tails are up but Michael Vandort and Jayawardene dig in as Sri Lanka finish 105 for 2, quick wickets needed tomorrow.


Day 3 A pretty rough day for England on a fairly placid pitch. If there is going to be a winner in this game, the Sri Lankans are firm favourites. A lot depends on how many they score tomorrow and how long England have to bat for.

Jayawardene also became the top Sri Lankan tests run scorer. Hats off to him.



Day 4 England nearly get a sniff of victory as they get quick wickets but a determined 9th wicket stand ends all that nonsense and England are basically left to bat a full day out to avoid defeat.

Day 5 A Draw is comfortably secured and England still have a chance to tie the series, a few plus points for England with two opening century stands although both batsmen could have gone on to get more, England's bowlers also stuck to their task on a very flat wicket. It needs to be remembered that this is still a fairly young and inexperienced England side, if they can be kept together for a few more years without too much chopping and changing then there is the nucleus of a very good side.

ENGLAND V SRI LANKA IST TEST DEC 1ST TO DEC 5TH 2007

The boys are back in white and the series kicks off in Kandy, Sri Lanka which just happens to be Muttiah Muralitharans home ground as he attempts to break the Test wickets record.

Day 1 England bowl superbly to restrict Sri Lanka to 188. Matthew Hoggard is his usual dogged self as he takes 4 for 29 and is ably backed up by Monty.It could have been even better as the Sri Lankans were 42 for 5.

Day 2 England stutter after being 107 for 1, they end the day 186 for 6 still 2 behind Sri Lanka, Ian Bell once again shows he is becoming a World class batsmen by top scoring, Matt Priors place in the team must be under some scrutiny though. Heavy rain stops proceedings early.

Day 3 England fight back as Collingwood and Sidebottom dig in but the day belongs to Muralitharan as he becomes the leading Test wicket taker of all time and in another twist Jayasuriya announces his retirement from Test Cricket.

Day 4 Sri Lanka basically bat England out of the game and Day 5 is definitely going to be a struggle, add to this, Matthew Hoggards injury which could spell bad news for the rest of the tour.

Day 5 England once again come up short, its left to Bell and Prior to stave off defeat but although they both bat very well, they agonisingly fail to see out the overs. First blood to the Sri Lankans, but all in all a very interesting Test. Just worth a note about the amazing menagerie of animals involved in this test, dogs, Monkeys and a swarm of insects.

England V Sri Lanka 13th October 5th ODI

After the lord Mayors show, England missed an opportunity to strike a psychological blow before the Test Matches start in December (and to go up to 4th in the one day rankings).

As has been the norm in all the matches, the bowlers were once again on top. A relatively inexperienced England attack has been superb and surely this bodes well for the future. Sidebottom and Anderson look like international bowlers and Swann has been a revelation (showing up his wilderness years under Duncan Fletcher) Chris Broad is not the finished article yet but will undoubtedly go on to be a very good cricketer and is surely a better bet than Tremlett and Plunkett.

The wicketkeeper is still a problem position for England although Mustard deserves a second chance, he will score runs on good wickets and is not afraid to attack the bowlers.

England batsmen have been found wanting on this tour due in main to slow and deceiving pitches, Ian Bells form was as poor as he was good in the last series against India but he should also be a regular for many years to come.

Both Collingwood and Pieterson struggled but made vital contributions in individual matches when needed. Shah had one excellent innings but gave away his wicket too easily in others and poor old Ravi Bopara seemed to be stuck in the old Mark Ramprakash mode as he usually ended up with the tail enders.

As for Monty, the future for him in one dayers is cloudy and maybe in the new age of cricket, he will remain a very good test bowler without playing limited overs matches.

All in all and putting everything into context, this was England's first one day series victory on the sub continent for 20 years against the the team who finished second in the recent World Cup.

Praise must be heaped on the coaching staff and hopefully England can go on from here and improve as a limited overs outfit.

England V Sri Lanka 10th October 4th ODI

Unfortunately only caught the back end of this game due to work commitments (boring) but it was great to witness another England Victory. Once again it seemed the bowlers were excellent (nice to see Anderson getting some wickets).
Cook made some vital runs and Pieterson steered the ship home.

After the 20/20 tournament, this has been a completely different type of one day cricket and England have adapted well. Although its been a low scoring series, it has been entertaining watching the batsmen try to come to grips with unusual pitches and conditions.

What England should do now is keep the same side and go for the jugular on Saturday, no compromises, this may just shake the Sri Lankans up for the test series.

England v Sri Lanka October 7th 2007 3rd ODI

Extremely hard fought victory in a war of attrition.

A pretty sub standard one day pitch served for England's 3rd one day match in the series.

Losing the toss could have spelled the death knell for England but after a few breaks for rain an excellent bowling and fielding display limited the Sri Lankans to what seemed to be an easy target,165 to win.

Swann was superb and well backed up by Sidebottom and Broad.

England innings started badly and continued to fall away, Cook, Pieterson and Bell all failed again and Mustard was unlucky with his dismissal. Shah and Collingwood took England into safer waters until both also were out along with Bopara.

It was once again down to the extremely calm Stuart Broad to steer England home with an extremely mature knock.

Put into context, this was an excellent victory, England won against the toss, they have also won two games in a row now in Sri Lanka (Having only won one in their entire history before this tour), also most of Englands batsmen haven`t actually performed yet so hopefully theres still a little bit left in the locker.

England V Sri Lanka October 4th 2007 2nd ODI

Once again I kept up with the cricket via the BBC website (due to the fact I was at work again). As the game unfolded and the English batsmen struggled, my thoughts drifted back to the opening game and the fact that England struggled under the lights, surely a score of 220+ would pose more than a few problems for the Sri Lankan batsmen and so it proved.

Shah and Collywood looked capable of taking England to such a score and Swann provided an excellent knock towards the end of the innings.

Shahs innings was almost majestic on the slow pitch and he paced it to perfection.

The game then became a role-reversal of Mondays game as the England bowlers skittled the Sri Lankan team out for 169 with all the bowlers looking impressive.

So a welcome victory for Englands beleaguered one day side.

A few points to note from the game, Pieterson definitely looks out of sorts and I have seen some comments on the net intent on dropping him, did the Aussies drop Hayden, Ponting or Gilchrist when they were struggling for runs, class always comes good in the end.

Winning the toss is critical in these day night games, I think you need to produce something special to win after losing the spin of the coin.

You do need to put some things in context, this was only England's second ever one day victory in Sri Lanka and Shahs knock the best ever by an England batsman so a bit of history was made.

Bring on the next game.

England V Sri Lanka October 1st 2007

England were heavily trounced in Dambulla (which seemed an interesting ground with a bit of history) and in all honesty they probably lost the game when they lost the toss.

On a poor one day pitch Sri Lanka made too many runs for England to be in with a shout especially batting second under the lights.

Englands bowling had been competent without being inspiring whereas the Sri Lankan bowlers simply put the ball in the right place and let the pitch and conditions do the rest.

The English top order didn't gave their wickets away, I just think most of them were deceived by some spirited bowling.

We must end this obsession with having to have the Wicket Keeper open though, I can`t see the point of it, Mustard could be a decent player down the order and you need two proper opening batsmen in 50 overs cricket.

Whats with the reverse sweep too, Swann and Bopara almost looked like they could swing it England's way until Swann came up with a simple chance off Dilshans bowling. I seriously think the cricket authorities should ban it (because we can`t play it).

Bopara continues to impress, he always seems to walk to the crease when its a lost cause and always looks assured and you do believe in him at times.

On to the next game now Dambulla again, need to win the toss next time though.

ENGLAND V INDIA 19TH SEPTEMBER 2007

The end of the road for England as they exit the 20/20 world cup.

An exciting game which will be remembered for Yuvraj Singhs amazing 36 runs off one over, all the more amazing for the fact that Stuart Broad didn`t actually bowl disastrously bad.

England made a gallant attempt to knock the runs off but once again no batsman could finish their innings off.

What was all the mouthing off going on from Flintoff, he obviously stirred Yuvraj up so much he tore England to pieces. Flintoff looks woeful with the bat at the moment and needs to keep his trap shut until he can justify his spouting off.

I wonder if the guys will be down the lap dancing club tonight

England v New Zealand 18th September 2007

Disaster strikes as England are (all but) sent scuttling out of the 20/20 World cup.
Couldn't` watch this seen as I was at work but I lived every ball on the excellent BBC Website.

Looks to me as if yet again England failed to capitalise on the chances they were given.
They had the Kiwis struggling after 10 overs and created an opening partnership of 62 which should have seen them home.

Back to the drawing board(again) for our one day cricket team.

Maddy had a good game so I take back a little of what I said in my earlier post but he couldn't see it through to the end and I think that's were our biggest problem lies, we just don`t have enough match winners (if any) Pieterson is world class but when was the last time he finished a tight game off. Nope I can`t think of one either.

I hope the Kiwis go on to win it now beating the Aussies in the final (here's hoping anyway)

ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA 16TH SEPTEMBER 2007

Another disappointing one day performance by an unexceptional England squad.

When was the last time England won a game in a major tournament against a test playing nation which actually counted for something (a rhetorical question).

England had bowled well and had restricted the South Africans until a rash of dropped catches and an impressive innings from Albie Morkel swung the game.

For me, in the batting stakes England rely too heavily on Pietersen and Collingwood and if they fail (at the same time) then it becomes an uphill struggle. Wright has not put a foot right yet, if the England selectors believe in him then he deserves a longer run in the team but they need to decide where to play him.

Prior looks out of his depth opening, why do we continue to have this obsession with a wicket-keeper who needs to open aka Adam Gilchrist, Gilchrist is a once in a lifetime cricketer and we need to move away from this nonsense of trying to emulate him.

Pieterson is a world class batsman, no doubt whatsoever but he was at fault last night. You should never amble a run in one day cricket never mind 20/20. He does make some daft mistakes sometimes for one so talented.

Not sure about Shah, he can bat no doubt about that, but his shot selection is poor at times as it was last night and that's what separates good players from the mediocre.

Flintoff looks all at sea as a batsman (at the moment), he would struggle to make New Earswick 2nd 11 on his batting alone but his bowling is as impressive as ever and he always looks England's most likely wicket taker.

Anderson and Broad are both decent bowlers and should be persevered with, Broad has also showed he can bat a bit and he can deal well with pressure.

As for Snape,Maddy, Kirtley and Schofield, well these guys have had their chance years before and failed to take it, I can`t see much changing in the next few games but It would be a turn up for the books if any of these four made a serious impact on the 20/20 World cup.

As for Dimitri Mascarenhas, its a struggle to spell his name, never mind comment about him but hes an honest player who has played pretty well for England both batting and bowling, hes more likely a short term solution as an all rounder but I think he deserves his position in the England team and should probably bat at no 6.

Anyway disappointment is brushed aside and its roll on the next game, as I write this New Zealand is less than 9 hours away. Come on England.