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

beamer wrote:
Succession planning in the batting, top three in particular, seems severely lacking. Bopara keeps hanging on in there as next cab off the rank. Carberry being the wrong side of 30 has perhaps missed the boat, and Fat Sam as a bits and pieces spinner-batsman was preferred to any of the young batting specialist candidates. Morgan will probably get another shot if a vacancy comes up as well.

I think it's of reasonable certainty that lil' Jim T will be at five or six if Strauss is jettisoned. I don't see them picking both Patel and Bopara for some reason. I think they've been categorised as 'plus some fill-in bowling' batsmen and they only want one.

lardbucket wrote:
... not a draw, you silly person you, a TIE.

8 wickets for no run? Geeeerrrororrrffff ya gulag-loving fly-by-night...

Brass Monkey wrote:

beamer wrote:
Succession planning in the batting, top three in particular, seems severely lacking. Bopara keeps hanging on in there as next cab off the rank. Carberry being the wrong side of 30 has perhaps missed the boat, and Fat Sam as a bits and pieces spinner-batsman was preferred to any of the young batting specialist candidates. Morgan will probably get another shot if a vacancy comes up as well.

I think it's of reasonable certainty that lil' Jim T will be at five or six if Strauss is jettisoned. I don't see them picking both Patel and Bopara for some reason. I think they've been categorised as 'plus some fill-in bowling' batsmen and they only want one.

Surely little Jimmy T's stock has fallen badly this Winter. He's shown a worrying inability to get the ball off the square in any innings he's played. He's had a pretty awful time of it, really.

Swanny-

"Sure there've been moments of frustration," Swann said. "As Englishmen we get very hot and bothered. That next 40 minutes hurt a little bit. You're looking at a chase of 285-290 and we're going to win this, to 330 where it's maybe tipped back to a 50-50 game. Those 40-odd runs were very hot and bothering for all the fielders. As you saw we were at each other's necks by the end."

I dunno why, but I found this funny.

Maybe the next England batting regular will be an unexpected name who forces his way in by having a spectacular county season, rather like Trott did in 2009? Form picks are risky as they don't always have the required quality in the long term but nobody is really banging the door down and saying "pick me" at the moment.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Allan D wrote:
I think Sales' problem was that at crucial moments when he might have got a Test call-up he suffered crucial injuries. Apparently he gave up the county captaincy to concentrate on securing an England place but then succumbed to a back injury. Northants have produced some great batters though including Fred Bakewell, whose career was ended by a car accident, ditto (virtually although he did return for a few games) Olly Milburn, Rahman Subba Row (who, like Freddie Brown, went from The Oval to the County Ground) who topped the England averages against the 1961 Australians after deciding to give up cricket for business and Wayne Larkins who had a rather strange England career at the beginning and end of his fc career whilst being untroubled by the selectors in his most productive middle phase.

Aye, Bakewell was a bit of a pisshead apparently, couldn't get it together (same with Larkins). Brookes and Bailey could feel they weren't given enough chances, as could Fordham. There were some good players keeping them out though: Hobbs, Holmes, Sutcliffe, Paynter, Hammond, Hutton, May, Gooch and so forth. Not totally sure that's the case with Sales at the times he was ready.

Although Shah, who did play for a fashionable county, and Solanki (who I think were Sales' contemporaries in the U19 side) really never got a fair crack of the whip at Test level either. Keith Andrew was reckoned to be the best wicket-keeper on the county circuit but was kept out of the England side by Godfrey Evans, which might be fair enough, but then by wicketkeeper-batsmen like Parks and Murray and even by inferior 'keepers (much as it pains me to have to say it) like Millman (of Notts!).

Solanki was never deserving of a Test call-up, he was hit and miss in the extreme in ODI cricket. Shah was perhaps unlucky to be left out after a decent debut but his second chance and a lot of his one-day exploits showed up fundamental issues with temperament, he never looked at ease at the crease and his ability to cause running between the wickets panic at any moment was a prime example.

Henry wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:

beamer wrote:
Succession planning in the batting, top three in particular, seems severely lacking. Bopara keeps hanging on in there as next cab off the rank. Carberry being the wrong side of 30 has perhaps missed the boat, and Fat Sam as a bits and pieces spinner-batsman was preferred to any of the young batting specialist candidates. Morgan will probably get another shot if a vacancy comes up as well.

I think it's of reasonable certainty that lil' Jim T will be at five or six if Strauss is jettisoned. I don't see them picking both Patel and Bopara for some reason. I think they've been categorised as 'plus some fill-in bowling' batsmen and they only want one.

Surely little Jimmy T's stock has fallen badly this Winter. He's shown a worrying inability to get the ball off the square in any innings he's played. He's had a pretty awful time of it, really.

He's always put down as FEC material though, which is an albatross around any cricketer's neck. He may turn out to be the next Ian Bell or the next David Sales (cf. correspondence with BM).

beamer wrote:Solanki was never deserving of a Test call-up, he was hit and miss in the extreme in ODI cricket. Shah was perhaps unlucky to be left out after a decent debut but his second chance and a lot of his one-day exploits showed up fundamental issues with temperament, he never looked at ease at the crease and his ability to cause running between the wickets panic at any moment was a prime example.

Another example of a player peaking at 19 and not kicking on then, perhaps.

Allan D wrote:

beamer wrote:Solanki was never deserving of a Test call-up, he was hit and miss in the extreme in ODI cricket. Shah was perhaps unlucky to be left out after a decent debut but his second chance and a lot of his one-day exploits showed up fundamental issues with temperament, he never looked at ease at the crease and his ability to cause running between the wickets panic at any moment was a prime example.

Another example of a player peaking at 19 and not kicking on then, perhaps.

Sowanki or OA?

beamer wrote:Maybe the next England batting regular will be an unexpected name who forces his way in by having a spectacular county season, rather like Trott did in 2009? Form picks are risky as they don't always have the required quality in the long term but nobody is really banging the door down and saying "pick me" at the moment.

The player with the temperament and the ability to bat at 6 in all forms of the game is Bairstow.

beamer wrote:

Allan D wrote:

beamer wrote:Solanki was never deserving of a Test call-up, he was hit and miss in the extreme in ODI cricket. Shah was perhaps unlucky to be left out after a decent debut but his second chance and a lot of his one-day exploits showed up fundamental issues with temperament, he never looked at ease at the crease and his ability to cause running between the wickets panic at any moment was a prime example.

Another example of a player peaking at 19 and not kicking on then, perhaps.

Sowanki or OA?

Shah, who captained the U19 side, was an outstanding fielder and who was confidently predicted to go on and captain England. Solanki was and is an outstanding one-day player and should have had a much longer career at ODI level. He was ruined by being constantly mucked about in the order and sent in to thrash at 7 rather than open which was his natural position and where he had his greatest success.

Solanki's opening career was rather binary in nature I seem to remember - 0, 1, 100, 1, 0 etc... might have cut it in T20 where you can afford an opener who "comes off" once in a while but not so in the longer limited overs game, where you need a regular platform to be built.

These two and Bopara's career to date highlights the fact that we haven't had a batsman of Asian background really cement an England place since Nasser Hussain, come to think of it were there any before him? Surprising really when you think about it.

Raman Subba Row comes to mind.

Of course, you COULD count the various pre-Independence Indians (Ranji, Duleepsinhji, Pataudi) .... and those by chance of birth such as Cowdrey.

I think considering the shiteness of England's batting from the late 90s until around 2002, Solanki can consider himself unlucky not to have been given a crack at test cricket. Guys like Vaughan and Trescothick were picked on hunches, rather than stacks of County runs, so why not Solanki? He certainly looked the part at the crease. Perhaps with him, it was a case of being allowed to linger in County cricket for too long, when considering his talent, he probably should have got a look in when in his early 20s.

Shah should never have been dropped after his 88 on debut in India. But he was as soon as the guy he replaced (Trescothick? Bell?) was fit/available again. Which I think was the next test England played. Shah then had to wait three years for his next chance, against the Windies in 2009. Apparently Duncan Fletcher was unimpressed that Shah had been carefree and relaxed in the warm ups, assuming he wouldn't play in that test against India when in fact he was included in the side at the last minute.

Well, I say, big f*cking deal Feltch. The fact is, the guy went out there, scored 88, and looked the part. It's funny how Fletcher's apparent acceptance of players with 'different' characters didn't seem to extend to all players. It seemed like he looked at a guy, and if he didn't immediately like him, then life for that player could be very tough.

(Further thought re: beamer's post - )

I don't think it's all that "surprising" though. Brasians would pretty much have to grow up through the old-school-tie Establishment to play for England in those days (if we are talking of 1970 and previously - the world, incidentally, that Horrie is still locked in when he lies back and thinks of England!). Which wasn't exactly that common.

Basil D'Oliveira (not Asian, but you know what I mean) was instrumental in breaking the old mould, not just for South Africa (reluctantly).

PeterCS wrote:(Further thought re: beamer's post - )

I don't think it's all that "surprising" though. Brasians would pretty much have to grow up through the old-school-tie Establishment to play for England in those days (if we are talking of 1970 and previously - the world, incidentally, that Horrie is still locked in when he lies back and thinks of England!). Which wasn't exactly that common.

Basil D'Oliveira (not Asian, but you know what I mean) was instrumental in breaking the old mould, not just for South Africa (reluctantly).

hmmn...I do get confused about which century I wheeze oxygen in...so petey are you suggesting that I should consider England as a classless open society?

I certainly do not consider Oz in such a light. Class rules in this joint...disproportionate wealth and power remain held by the few

Our cricket was blighted for a long period by old school tie types (and more recently during the Hildy era)

England's cricket and its fans in fact remind me more of the motto of my last cricket club - "win nervously, lose tragically" ...

First session crucial here.

It's funny how the Sri Lankans act like excited school girls at a boy-band concert when they take bat pad catches, but then decide not to review it when the umpire turns down their hysterical appeals.

F*ck you Pietersen.

Should be all done and dusted by lunch now.

Eventful over from Randiv. 2 appeals for close catches, Trott nearly spooned it to fine leg, and KP gets caught at short midwicket. 3-118.

Henry wrote:It's funny how the Sri Lankans act like excited school girls at a boy-band concert when they take bat pad catches, but then decide not to review it when the umpire turns down their hysterical appeals.

DRS really highlights the level of questionable sportsmanship with bat-pad catches. But then again, all teams do it, I guess.

Let's talk about KP in tests this Winter. All the talk before this game was about how Bell was struggling for form, but KP has been worse.

Hasn't passed 50 once in his last four tests.

Untwist those knickers Lakmal, it would have missed the next set of stumps.

skully wrote:

Henry wrote:It's funny how the Sri Lankans act like excited school girls at a boy-band concert when they take bat pad catches, but then decide not to review it when the umpire turns down their hysterical appeals.

DRS really highlights the level of questionable sportsmanship with bat-pad catches. But then again, all teams do it, I guess.

With no hotspot or snicko available with the DRS this series (which makes it almost pointless FFS) the fielders know that if they can persuade the Umpire to give it out, there wont be much evidence available for the thrd umpire to refute the decision.

The ICC are a disgrace. I have absolutely no confidence in them at all to do anything right. In fact, I suspect they are not only incompetent, but also corrupt.