Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test, Galle, 26-30 March, 2012

Can't complain about a 3 day test fest after a decade of largely shite test matches.

Monty's been shite in this match. Cheap but shite, even in the first innings.

chinhead looks to have saved his career for a period


goooooooo Lankans

Swann went from boiled lollies to chocolates in a big way. That wicket must be a doozy.

Lankans now 276 in front. Plenty.

broad wicket off a no-ball. game-changing?

england still well in the game as of now. enough time to get 300 without too many risks

England really don't want this last wicket. Can't flay Samit for failing to stay within the boundary ropes. With his mass, momentum is always going to be more.

Last wicket partnership equals SL record v. England in SL - 46 by Jayawardene (DPM) & Murali on this ground in December 2003. Also ground record in Tests.

Dear me. A trip down Memory Lane to England circa 1990.

At least there was no lack of team spirit once Broad overstepped. Bell let the ball slip under his body for a boundary, Trott made a hash of a runout and Prior missed his underarm throw, Patel tried to make sure he pulled off the catch and conceded the six anyway .... Team England generously spreading the collective responsibility around.

It was clear that Broady should have been be taken off straight after the no-ball c&b. Unlike those who use anger to psyche themselves up, even as a weapon/ploy against opponents, like Pidge or most famously John McEnroe, when something pisses Broad off, he almost inevitably loses his focus, and quickly sheds runs - wides, noballs, boundaries. Psychotherapy needed there, I suppose.


So ... will England get near? Get half way? Dispiriting to support a team whose batting subsides tamely and/or makes inroads and then powerlessly watches them melt away. ... and I have Lancs, too, who too often do the same. Double whammy

So, 7 wicket win for Engulund, with Belf getting 180?

horace wrote:ROFL at the above...the bitterness of pomgolians about their team is never far from the surface...it is as if the English players and fans never felt they truly deserved the top billing

Bitterness is in the eye of the beholder, Horrie.


It's the "oh no, not that again" experience. You should try "long suffering" sometime, and you might get the point, in your ancient vituperative wisdom. ~ Imagine, if you will, your nurses bringing you the old third-grade kero they used to bring - and then bringing it again. And then again. .... With no complaints procedure in place. ...


As for that "top billing" - as they say in German, "titles are flashy flim-flam" ("Namen sind Schall und Rauch"). None of the Poms on here (bar perhaps Merls) set any great store by that. The nub is the grade of the performance. And the exasperation and head-shaking it can cause.

skully wrote:So, 7 wicket win for Engulund, with Belf getting 180?

Is this a new computer game? "BELFANTASY 2012"?

So Swann 6 Monty 2

Sounds about right.

Allan D wrote:Last wicket partnership equals SL record v. England in SL - 46 by Jayawardene (DPM) & Murali on this ground in December 2003. Also ground record in Tests.

Correction: beats record by 1.

england doing it easy. should be done and dusted before tea tomorrow

That's Cook done.

The One wrote:england doing it easy. should be done and dusted before tea tomorrow

And so the woofing begins

Oh dear Strauss. Awful shot again.

Sack.Strauss.Now!

I went to see a director about nothing, just so I could see that frankly abysmal shot. It was confirmed.

Really it's a shame that we couldn't get them out cheaply this morning. I think we could 'threaten' 250. Not 325. Of course, that's providing brainfades don't occur and as just displayed by passenger Strauss, the brainfades come faster than skully when he's got some new trivia.

dilshan making pietersen look like a complete muppet. some ugly batting out there

Hmm, it may just be time for Strauss to go.

Strauss, batting-wise, is a joke. Tactically-wise as captain? Joke. Two men around the bat first thing this morning. Maybe we could keep him on as a nanny? i.e. he could sort out their underwear and tell them whose room there's an Xbox tournament in, sort out any disputes? Because he has 'man-managing' down to a tee, but he's a passenger. A real free-loading passenger who is harming England.

If Strauss doesn't make a big score in the next two tests, and England lose this series, then Cook will be England's test captain by mid April.

there's only 1 more test

these 2 are settling down nicely now

Henry wrote:Hmm, it may just be time for Strauss to go.

He will go during the SA series. It is written in the stars