England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, The Oval, 6-10 September, 2024

A reality check, when Bazball goes too far. Reckless play driven initially by fear of the rain (we’d have needed a day and a half of downpours to draw this one) and then playing like we had a 200 lead second time around, after a couple of loose sessions in the field. It may be a dead rubber and with us missing three first-choice players but with a clean sweep summer at stake there was no need for this.

SL bowled very well in the sun, somewhat surprising after England had run through them this morning, but I think that was the problem, ENgland expected it to be easy. There wasnt any sense of lets bat out the day, give the bowlers a rest, see what lead we have tomorrow. No they were shot out in 34 overs and were still in shock when SL batted. Kumaras comment, you think this is T20 to Dan, summed it up, it wasnt easy, and england tried bazball, they tried sticking it out, they had no answer, they went for big shots, only Smith managed it and since he was batting with the tail it was the only thing left. Although SL were behind the game twice in this test each time they managed to claw back the advantage and now they should go on to win.

lardbucket wrote:A target of 200 could be 50 too many ...

On one hand, and for the most part, I hope I’m wrong about this. A Sri Lankan win would be good for Test cricket.

On the other hand, there’s a small part of me that hopes England pulls off the win, seeing no issue with the arrogant ‘born to win’ game style, and carrying on until confronted by reality a bit later.

Welly well well, I didn't expect the game to be in Lanka's favour getting up this morning.

Can they finish it off by getting the necessary 125 further runs?

lol England

How to effectively win a match twice then end up losing it by 8 wickets. Sack the captain

Once in a couple of decades opportunity for a clean sweep summer wasted, or at least I doubt it will present itself again with India touring next year.

Englands test summer ended on a low note on a cold windy day at the OVal with a brilliant 100 by Nissanka and Slankas first test win outside Asia for 4 years [against Zimbab]. The way England played after the first day suggests they havnt learned any lessons from other defeats last year against oz, and in india.

A lot of positives from winning 5 tests, and the perfs of the younger and newer players, but the batting is still overly reliant on Root, especially in Stokes absence, and brook had a poor series against SL. Woakes bowled well in every match, and often without the returns he deserved, but I dont see him as being able to lead the attack in Pakistan or NZ.

Summer certainly feels over here now, so I hope the weather stays dry enough for the mini ashes series, more England A vs Oz A. Wisely Gus is gonna sit this 1 out.

Congrats to Lanka on avoiding the sweep. Looks a good knock from Nissanka.

Barney Ronay in The Guardian had it about right, England took the p*ss in this test. They thought they just had to turn up to win. Such an arrogant attitude will see them lose to India at home next year and portends a hammering in The Ashes.

Some stats this summer

Root 10-1-666-143-74.00
Smith 10-0-487-111-48.70
Pope 10-0-430-154-43.00
Brook 10-0-377-109-37.70
Duckett 11-1-364-86-36.40

Bowlers
Atkinson 34 at 20.18 [went for over 4 an over but great strike rate]
Woakes 24 at 20.25
wood 11 at 22.47
Bash 15 at 36.66


For SL
Asitha took 17 at 24.65
Kamindu scored 267 at 53

So Lawrence predictably goes from perennial next cab off the rank to the scrapyard, as a result of being asked to pick up a totally unsuitable fare. Harsh in a sense but he should maybe have realised what he was signing up for…

Cox is the spare bat. I might have been tempted to have gone with Jennings as spare opener. He has enough experience to be able bat down the order as well.

Basil wrote:Cox is the spare bat. I might have been tempted to have gone with Jennings as spare opener. He has enough experience to be able bat down the order as well.

He can’t play pace though, which is why it would be a short-sighted move as no way they could take him to Australia.

An opener who can't play pace. Bizarre.

Basil wrote:An opener who can't play pace. Bizarre.

Full-pitched express pace, specifically, I seem to remember. Was it him who supposedly averaged 1 against 90mph balls on target to hit the stumps, or something like that?

Fine against 80mph-tops county opening fare (as many others are) and apparently OK against the short stuff, but put him up against Cummins and Starc pitching it up with swing and he might as well be Chris Martin.

That's not a stat I'm aware of. I only suggested him for the Pakistan series because the pitches are likely to be flatter than a flat thing. Anyway, good luck to Cox, I hope his drinks carrying skills are up to the task.

Basil wrote:That's not a stat I'm aware of. I only suggested him for the Pakistan series because the pitches are likely to be flatter than a flat thing. Anyway, good luck to Cox, I hope his drinks carrying skills are up to the task.

Well yeah, Jennings was suggested as a subcontinent specialist last winter, but we’re close enough to the Ashes now for that to be the focus (alongside India at home).

Cox keeps wicket as well (presumably in a more specialist sense than Pope at least) so covers off multiple bases, every chance someone north of number 8 will get injured or sick along the way.

I did wonder if Ollie Robinson would be recalled given his decent form when we were last I Pakistan.

I think it's safe to assume that his England career is over. He only has himself to blame.

Basil wrote:I did wonder if Ollie Robinson would be recalled given his decent form when we were last I Pakistan.

I think it's safe to assume that his England career is over. He only has himself to blame.

No idea how Tommy’s looked in county cricket this summer - sub-30 average (albeit in the second division) appears reasonable on the face of it but sure he will need to show some rediscovered spark to be considered again.

Norfolk Ian Goode wrote:

Basil wrote:I did wonder if Ollie Robinson would be recalled given his decent form when we were last I Pakistan.

I think it's safe to assume that his England career is over. He only has himself to blame.

No idea how Tommy’s looked in county cricket this summer - sub-30 average (albeit in the second division) appears reasonable on the face of it but sure he will need to show some rediscovered spark to be considered again.

I was told by someone who was in India for the last two tests that they were in the same airport as the squad and Robinson was sat with his partner well away from the rest of the team and he looked like someone who had lost a fiver and found sixpence.

In that case, I feel sorry for his partner!

He won’t play for England again. He might even disappear quickly from the county scene altogether.

With Cox joining the Brotherhood of Bazball, the Benny Hill Factor plainly still carries some weight at the selectors table.