Sri Lanka v England, 3rd ODI, Dambulla, 7th Oct

The only other "batsman" they've got out there is Luke Wright, though, so any changes will be akin to shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic.

I suppose Bell could move up to open, Shah or Bopara in at three, Wright at seven in a counter-attacking role with Swanny at eight.

I just can't see it with Cook - nothing about his game looks suited to limited overs cricket.

Well played to Swann though, he's shown enough flight and control to be our 2nd spinner even if this is only ODI cricket.

Wouldn't think he'd take a heap of wickets, but could be a good foil for the montster

Not sure he's a number 7 though as mentioned by croft in the studio - he'd be a reet proper number 8

JKLever wrote:Well played to Swann though, he's shown enough flight and control to be our 2nd spinner even if this is only ODI cricket.

Wouldn't think he'd take a heap of wickets, but could be a good foil for the montster

Not sure he's a number 7 though as mentioned by croft in the studio - he'd be a reet proper number 8

Hmm, yeah maybe. Think he could do a job, depends who's batting at 8.

Man of the Match. Back of the net.

Laughable that Swanny wasn't in the T20 World Cup squad whilst Chris Schofield and Jeremy Snape were stinking out the place...

So, the team going into the crease knowing there are 50 overs of play, getting interupted by rain twice, having to then re-adjust thier strategy because of the reduced overs, actually gets 1 run deducted from the total? Wow, talk about logic.

Let's just rename the team Nottinghamshire and get on with winning matches?

Pfft - all imports, from Northamptonia, Leicesteralia and Yorkistan.

Dello wrote:Pfft - all imports, from Northamptonia, Leicesteralia and Yorkistan.

Yo. To go with Jefferson of Eastsex and Wagh of War wicks hire.

Not mention Read from The People's Republic of Devon.

Well done England - Swann rightly got M o M But I was seriously impressed by Broad - looks like he's got a brain to go with his innate talent.

Broad's doing well.

But I think Ryan Sidebottom deserves a lot of credit. I didn't think much of him when England called him up last summer, but he's really shown that he can play, he can bowl with some pace when he gets fired up, he's got a great, aggressive attitude and will to win - and he can hold a bat, just about.

I think I might actually be becoming a fan of his.

*puts down crack pipe*

What did Shah do?

Batfink Begins wrote:

Dello wrote:Pfft - all imports, from Northamptonia, Leicesteralia and Yorkistan.

Yo. To go with Jefferson of Eastsex and Wagh of War wicks hire.

Who needs home-grown players with that kind of record in the transfer market?

We've had a few useful players from New Zealand over the years as well...

Great, some cricket today! England win with seven balls remaining, and Sidebottom with 3 for 19 in 8.1. Good stuff.

Scored 19 and looked in no trouble, then had a rush of blood, came flying down the wicket and had a big heave at Jayasuriya and was bowled.

Totally out of a blue and uncalled for.

That's cricket, I suppose. If he connects and it goes for six everyone hails his courage and attitude in "taking it to the opposition". But he didn't connect and probably spent the rest of the game wondering why the hell he played that shot.

Dello wrote:Broad's doing well.

But I think Ryan Sidebottom deserves a lot of credit. I didn't think much of him when England called him up last summer, but he's really shown that he can play, he can bowl with some pace when he gets fired up, he's got a great, aggressive attitude and will to win - and he can hold a bat, just about.

I think I might actually be becoming a fan of his.

*puts down crack pipe*

A Ryan Sidebottom fanboy eh? Well I never!

Pietersen's in shit form, in't he? Tempting to ****** him off back home early and let him be pampered so he gets in to some form for the real cricket in December, the wimp.

A match-winning, unbeaten 70-odd just three ODIs ago.

I think reports of Pietersen's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

But I don't think he adapts his game at all to slow pitches where scoring is hard. He still tries to biff everything off the front foot.

Anyway, they're off to Colombo now, where the tracks are supposed to be flat and true - that should give him the horn.