Sri Lanka v England, 5th ODI, Colombo, 13th Oct

Ah well, we can definitely say our bowlers won us this series...

Still plenty of question marks over the batting remain though.

I really want him to be in the Test squad, but you've gotta say that Shah hasnt done himself any favours the way he's got out in his last few knocks.

Henry wrote:I really want him to be in the Test squad, but you've gotta say that Shah hasnt done himself any favours the way he's got out in his last few knocks.

That's why I think there's a good chance (or ought to be) of Ramps being in the Test side especially in view of the prospect of Murali who will demolish England easily at this rate. Vaughan to open with Cook, Ramps at 3, Bell at 6 with Shah as reserve.

JKLever wrote:Bloody hell, came back to see how the reply was going after the football seemed to be drifting aimlessly and its all over!!

You missed an England collapse at its very best I'm afraid. It's quite a sight to behold when in its full glory.

England =

doctorspin wrote:

JKLever wrote:Bloody hell, came back to see how the reply was going after the football seemed to be drifting aimlessly and its all over!!

You missed an England collapse at its very best I'm afraid. It's quite a sight to behold when in its full glory.

Indeed!

An England collapse always seems to look more silly than any other country's collapse.

Henry wrote:An England collapse always seems to look more silly than any other country's collapse.

Because England =

It's sillier bacause you can accurately predict it!

Has to be said you wouldn't want to take these pitches and play ODI's on them regularly, they've been shocking!

OK OK maybe I was being a bit cynical in the graphical representation of the England team.

This is more accurate:
England =

England are completely knackered, i'll give them that. Still no excuse for KP to bat as if he's having a saturday afternoon net down at the local park. I just always feel that not many kicks up the bum are handed out within the England team because a) They're so worried about hurting a players feelings, and b) a lot of their arses are already sore thanks to other activities involving Peter Moores.

Just a few statistical points as a coda to a dismal day for England fans - a joyous one for SL fans of course!

England's total of 104 was the lowest made by the ODI side since the 101 v. NZ at Chester-le-Street in June 2004 and the lowest abroad since the 88 also against SL at Dambulla in November 2003. It was the lowest total made by a Full Member side since NZ's 73 also against SL at Auckland on 6 January. Fernando's 6-27 is the best analysis against England since Andy Bichel's 7-20 at Port Elizabeth in the 2003 WC. It is also the best analysis by any ODI bowler since Maharoof's 6-14 against the West Indies at Mumbai almost exactly (but not quite) a year ago on 14 October 2006.

JKLever wrote:Farking Ian Bell, what a useless pile of crud.

Typical soft Bell dismissal FFS

Get rid.

Useless

Backed the wrong horse.

Fecker.

:D:D:D:D

Have you seen the light now JK?

England had to bat in the dark four times out of five - that's got to have had an affect on their performances.

They had the worst of the conditions almost all the time, but still ground out a series win.

Can't be too harsh on the batsmen.

It was still light when England batted today - they only used half the overs. At least they saved the Lankies on the electricity bill - Team England's contribution to reducing global warming - priceless!

Fernando had a wonder spell. Whew! we just got scott free of a 4-1 defeat.

Dilruwan Perera really looks classy than Tharanga. Very sad to see Lokuarachchi given the ball in front of him. He's a crafty spinner.

This series had been the series of lesser names. For England Sidebottom, Swann, Broad and Shah put their hands up, where as Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood really had a horror time. Conversely Maharoof, Fernando and Silva had good tournaments, where as Mahela, Snagakkara and Jaya had a horror run. Vaas is the only big name from either side to live up to expectations.

Migara wrote:This series had been the series of lesser names. For England Sidebottom, Swann, Broad and SHAH put their hands up, where as Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood really had a horror time

Owais Shah - Pld 5 NO 0 Runs 121 HS 82 Ave 24.20

Without the 82.

Owais Shah - Pld 4 NO 0 Runs 39 HS 19 Ave 9.7

Blimey, how bad were Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood?

Why "without the 82"? Why not "without the 121 runs"? Then he scored nothing, which is really bad.

Won England a match with the highest score of any player on either side in the whole series in what was a low-scoring series in difficult batting conditions.

I think that counts as putting your hand up. Didn't set the world on fire, granted, but no batsman did in the series.

Incidently, Ace was informed during a drinks break on the field today that his wife had given birth to their first sprog. So, happy days for him.

Considering the **** Sherms been getting recently I don't consider one good knock in five worthy of special praise.

Dello wrote:Incidently, Ace was informed during a drinks break on the field today that his wife had given birth to their first sprog. So, happy days for him.

Well done that man. Going on past experience he's got 12 wonderful trouble free years ahead of him before the **** hits the fan.

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:Considering the **** Sherms been getting recently I don't consider one good knock in five worthy of special praise.

Dello wrote:Incidently, Ace was informed during a drinks break on the field today that his wife had given birth to their first sprog. So, happy days for him.

Well done that man. Going on past experience he's got 12 wonderful trouble free years ahead of him before the **** hits the fan.

Interesting that you don't see a match winning knock worthy of special praise???

It was an unusual low scoring series. England's batsmen have been playing on hard, fast-ish wickets since they last toured the sub-continent a couple of years, so not surprised they've come up short.

The important thing is these games should not be counted against Ian Bell, the pitches were just not worthy of him.

Eric Air Emu wrote:The important thing is these games should not be counted against Ian Bell, the pitches were just not worthy of him.

Aye. In fact, considering the pitches, his average of 14 and S/R of 54 should be lauded as modern day genius.

All runs should count double in this series and so an average of 28 could be worse- add on 10 runs per innings for his decent fielding and he finishes with a very respectable average of 38- the success story continues.

Eric Air Emu wrote:All runs should count double in this series and so an average of 28 could be worse- add on 10 runs per innings for his decent fielding and he finishes with a very respectable average of 38- the success story continues.

Yeah there is that. Also he's 5'7 so that should be some sort of offset. I mean, KP's 6'5 - what a cnut.

What about the Ginge factor?