Sri Lanka's tour of England 2011

[DexteR]

Welcome to the Sri Lanka versus England Cricket Series 2011 thread.

The tour comprises of three Test Matches, one T20 International and five One Day International Matches.

Here is a look at the tour schedule:

Test Series

Thu May 26 - Mon May 30
1st Test - England v Sri Lanka
Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Fri Jun 3 - Tue Jun 7
2nd Test - England v Sri Lanka
Lord's, London

Thu Jun 16 - Mon Jun 20
3rd Test - England v Sri Lanka
The Rose Bowl, Southampton

Limited Overs Series

Sat Jun 25
Only T20I - England v Sri Lanka
County Ground, Bristol

Tue Jun 28
1st ODI - England v Sri Lanka
Kennington Oval, London

Fri Jul 1
2nd ODI - England v Sri Lanka
Headingley, Leeds

Sun Jul 3
3rd ODI - England v Sri Lanka
Lord's, London

Wed Jul 6
4th ODI - England v Sri Lanka
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Sat Jul 9
5th ODI - England v Sri Lanka
Old Trafford, Manchester

[DexteR]

Toughened Tremlett ready to lead attack

At 6'6", Stuart Broad cannot have been dismissed as a "midget" on too many occasions in his international career, but he could well be made to look like the runt of the litter if, as expected, England field the tallest pace trio in Test history at Lord's this week. The lanky Steven Finn is standing by to replace the injured James Anderson, but towering above all of his colleagues will be the bona fide beefcake, Chris Tremlett, a man whose sheer physical presence at Cardiff on Monday translated into the most telling spell of his career to date.

There's only a matter of inches separating the heights of England's three tallest seamers, but with legs like tree-trunks and shoulders that can appear to be the width of the pitch as he bears down on his opponents, Tremlett's physique has more in common with brick privies than the beanpoles that his team-mates can occasionally resemble. At the age of 29, and four Tests into his second coming as an international cricketer, he has at last found the self-confidence to match his natural aptitude for fast bowling.

"Naturally I'm a pretty wide-built guy and I'm a pretty intimidating character to face," Tremlett told reporters at Lord's, two days after his spell of 4 for 40 in ten overs had secured a stunning England victory by an innings and 14 runs in the first Test. "I guess I've always been a believer in letting the ball do the talking, but in the last couple of years, I've become more confident and more aggressive on the field. Being six foot whatever you always have a slight advantage bowling at any batsman."

It took a well-documented shift from the home comforts of Hampshire (where his father Tim is director of cricket) to Surrey for Tremlett to prove he was ready to resume his Test career. However, the impact he has made in his second coming has been staggering. From his five-wicket haul on the first day of the Perth Test to his Ashes-clinching dismissal of Michael Beer at Sydney, he has been in the thick of the action for England, and was at it again in Cardiff this week, when he scalped both Sri Lanka's openers in the space of eight deliveries to make possible their sensation collapse to 82 all out.

Such imposing performances had been anticipated when Tremlett made his Test debut against India four years ago. However, despite some encouraging performances - particularly at Trent Bridge where he claimed six wickets in the match including 3 for 12 to delay India's victory charge on the fifth morning - there was a certain something lacking from his armoury. "I did try to be aggressive but I guess it was forced a bit, to be honest," he recalled. "I tried to be someone I wasn't ... it was difficult to be nasty."

He's finding it rather easier now. As many of the great West Indian fast bowlers would testify, verbal aggression is not a requisite to Test success - witness the silent menace of Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose, to name but three. However, in the opinion of his former captain at Hampshire, Shane Warne, Tremlett's body language betrayed him as a soft touch, a charge the man himself did not dispute.

"I won't disagree with Warney," he said. "I was a bit timid at times, but the older I've got, with more confidence and age, being more aggressive comes more naturally to me, and I guess my competitiveness has gone up, certainly since moving to Surrey. I perhaps held back a bit at Hampshire. These days, I don't think about it too much - it just happens."

Nevertheless, it was Warne who came up with the one piece of advice that Tremlett has carried into the rest of his career. "If it wasn't going well for me, for example, bowling no-balls, he said 'just find a way'. That's really stuck with me in my career. Don't look for excuses, keep going and somehow find a way to get the job done."

He did that and more in Cardiff, in a bowling performance that scattered Sri Lanka's batting in less than 25 overs all told, and left their coach, Stuart Law, ruefully contemplating the challenge of "getting forward to half-volleys that hit you in the chest." "In the first innings I tried to get it up a little bit but my execution wasn't quite as good," said Tremlett. "In the second innings I did get it right, and my rhythm felt a lot better."

Had it not been for Anderson's side strain, Tremlett might not have been unleashed with the new ball for that decisive spell, but having used the conditions to perfection, it might be a while before England strip him of the honour. "I maybe offer a bit more with the extra bounce you get with a new ball, so I do enjoy bowling with it," he said. "But I still feel I can play whatever role, new ball or change. I'm pretty flexible on that.

"The wicket at Cardiff was particularly slow, so it will be interesting to see what it's like at Lord's and whether we'll go for our shorter bowlers. But myself, Finny and Broad always have that natural advantage over those guys that are 6ft. The short ball is a great weapon - and playing against this team, they are not used to it at times. It could be a plan we'll go with, but we'll assess that on the day. It's something to think of."

The overall impression is of a cricketer who has found his niche. Jonathan Trott, England's new-crowned player of the year, admitted it took him until his century in the Boxing Day Test to truly feel as though he belonged in the side, and while Tremlett was careful not to tempt fate given his history of injuries, he too admitted he feels at ease in the set-up, and confident of his worth.

"The England management know what they're going to get - whereas maybe a couple of years ago, when I was bit more inconsistent, they didn't know which Chris Tremlett was going to turn up on the day," he said. "I guess anything can happen with injuries as a bowler, so I'm not taking anything for granted, and I have had an injury history which will always stick with me in some regards, but it's great to have had an injury-free year and hopefully that will continue."

[DexteR]

Forget day five - Mahela Jayawardene

Right at this moment I can't believe what's just happened, but I'll probably go into my sorrows soon. We played a good four days of cricket in Cardiff, but then threw the entire Test match away in one session. Sadly, that's what can happen in Test cricket if you don't focus and concentrate throughout. We were not up for it, and the English boys showed why they are one of the best Test teams going around these days. They always come back and keep fighting, and we were not up for the challenge

It was always going to be a tricky situation to bat on the last day, when we weren't sure what the weather was doing, but to blame the rain would be nothing more than an excuse. Almost every day of the match had been a 1.30-2pm start, so we knew that whenever it stopped we'd have to focus and get on with it, like we'd done for four days already. Today it just didn't happen. We lost early wickets to pile the pressure on ourselves, but we didn't buckle down and take the fight back to England.

In Test cricket you really have to tough it out in those situations, but we didn't. Our job was just to bat the situation, but there wasn't much incentive because we weren't really going to get anything out of the day other than a bit of time in the middle and maybe a few unbeaten fifties. That would have been the only positive to come out of the day for us, but once we'd been put under pressure by good bowling and poor shot selection, things went out of control. We were not up for the task.

I can't put my finger on the reasons for the defeat, but it wasn't the way we planned it. Any defeat hurts, whether you have a really bad game or whether you lose a tight match in the last over, but to lose a Test like this hurts even more, because we were totally in control and just had to bat 40 overs. The first Test of any series is so important. We have to pick ourselves up and concentrate for the next one.

A lot of people have been saying that England are the best Test team in the world, and they really do look solid at the moment. But, for me, you have to win all over the world if you want to be considered the best, and the subcontinent is the one place they really need to come and dominate if they want that accolade. They have been playing some really good cricket of late - the way they played Australia in Australia, the way they fought well in South Africa as well. But if they are to say they are the No. 1 team in the world, they have to challenge themselves in all conditions, and that includes the subcontinent.

When England toured Sri Lanka three years ago, they seemed to struggle quite a bit with the conditions. That last series was a totally different scenario. We completely dominated the Galle Test before the rain came to save them, and we won the series 1-0. Here in England, the conditions are favourable to the home side and they know exactly what to do with them. We need to stand up for ourselves, which is a great challenge, but we've lost a great opportunity to go to Lord's at 0-0.

The final day was crazy, but really, this match was dominated by England's batsmen. Both Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott did really well to build a massive partnership, but in my opinion it was Trott who was the stand-out player. More than Alastair, he was in control of entire situation, and that's what you need when you are batting second with 400 already on the board. You need big partnerships to make sure you get into the game, and beyond, and that's what they did.

Lots of people have commented on the fact that this is Sri Lanka's first Test since Muttiah Muralitharan retired, and it's true our bowlers don't have the same variety now that he's not in the side - which is the main reason why we chose five of them for this match. But we have to move on from Murali, because we're not going to get him back. We have to find other options. Every team has to go through that transition period at some stage, and we need to make sure we get through it too.

I actually thought our bowlers bowled pretty well and were a bit unlucky at times. Cook and Trott did really well to stifle our ambitions. A big partnership is all about how you complement each other, rotate the strike, and attack different bowlers. Those two got through the tough situations, then dominated for a while, and were able to bat through sessions to make big runs.

The challenge now is to get our mindsets right, and our senior players, especially, need to score a lot of runs for Sri Lanka. I love batting at Lord's and I've made hundreds in each of my last two Tests there, although a third one is not really in my immediate planning. Records are great but we're 1-0 down and we have to win the Test match to get back into the series. I just need to start at ball one and get the job done for the team. That's the priority. That would be my personal objective and for the rest of the team as well.

Quite simply, we need to take the fifth day at Cardiff completely out of our minds, and think about what we did right on the first two, three, four days. Our batting was really good in the first innings. Prasanna Jayawardene carried a big responsibility at No. 6 and responded with a hundred, while Paranavitana and Samaraweera fought hard as well. The conditions helped England in the first innings, but we put runs on the board against a quality attack.

There are positives to take into the Lord's Test, but we need to keep working and fighting, and making and creating opportunities. The Cardiff Test is finished now and we need a fresh mindset for the next game, and we need 20 wickets to win a Test match.

[Sadaf Gondal]

sirf apne countries mein jeeto

[DexteR]

haan yeh tou hai

[DexteR]

Fernando, Welegedara play as Sri Lanka bowl

Sri Lanka have strengthened their pace attack and decided to bowl at Lord's as they aim to bounce back from their humiliation at Cardiff when they were skittled for 82. Dilhara Fernando and Chanaka Welegedara come into the tourists' line-up while, as expected, Steven Finn replaced the injured James Anderson for England.

When Tillakaratne Dilshan called correctly and stuck England in it felt like an immediate reaction to what happened earlier in the week. Andrew Strauss said he, too, would have probably bowled first although it will have come with a very different mindset after seeing what his bowlers did to Sri Lanka on Monday.

However, there was a hint of green on the pitch which will give Sri Lanka's seamers some hope of making early inroads albeit under cloudless skies on a warm morning. Fernando and Welegedara have replaced Thisara Perera and Ajantha Mendis which means Sri Lanka have one frontline spinner and that is Rangana Herath who will have Kevin Pietersen in his sights.

Pietersen is the one England batsman who really needs runs after falling for 3 in Cardiff. Regardless of conditions it would be a major surprise if Herath isn't into the attack as soon as Pietersen walks to the middle. Sri Lanka, though, need to do more than dismiss him cheaply to have a chance of levelling the series.

England 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Chris Tremlett, 11 Steven Finn

Sri Lanka 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Kumar Sangakkara , 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Chanaka Welegedara, 11 Suranga Lakmal

[myself]

Tough series
I think srilanka will win

[DexteR]

well lets see. England won the first one with relative ease and were able to uncover the flaws of Sri Lankan batting as well. England are in a strong position in the second Test as well.

[DexteR]

Morgan shines as England find a way

When good sides have bad days, they find a way to muddle through. "Just find a way", in fact, was the motto that Shane Warne - the best player in the greatest side of modern times - passed down to Chris Tremlett during his days as Hampshire's captain. Although Tremlett will have to wait until the weekend to reacquaint himself with Sri Lanka's batsmen, that message was not lost on his England team-mates, who endured their worst day of Test batting since the Perth Test in December, but somehow emerged with a scoreline that did them credit.

In many ways it was wasteful; in many more it was admirable. The shock of losing three early wickets to a Sri Lankan seam attack that had been anaemic down in Cardiff was offset by four half-centuries of vastly contrasting style. Alastair Cook's intense focus wavered fatally - and surprisingly - on 96, but up until that point he had been patience personified once again. He was joined in the attrition stakes by a gutsy Ian Bell, whose recent fluency was kept under wraps by good bowling and a precarious scoreline of 22 for 3. And then, after tea, the stage was turned over to Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior, who doubled the scoreline with a clatter of free-wheeling boundaries.

"I think it's quite even," said Morgan, whose 79 from 128 balls was his first significant Test innings since his Trent Bridge century ten months ago. "We were quite pleased with the way we performed after having our backs to the wall this morning. It just did enough, and they bowled a fuller length, which was noticeable, then there were periods after lunch when we had to sit in and leave well and try to set it up for later in the day."

It was a day when all's well that ends well for England. In their constant quest for self-improvement, the management will have reason to dissect at least five of the day's six dismissals - from the flaccid flap to gully that prolonged Kevin Pietersen's run of absent form, to the open-faced poke with which Bell brought about his downfall for 52. And yet, even in those moments of strife, there was a clarity of purpose and a closing of ranks that has long been the hallmark of all the best sides. They may at times have contributed to their own dismissals, but because they were instilled with the confidence of regular victories, at no stage did England threaten a Cardiff-style capitulation.

"Because of the performances we've had recently, the communication was quite good," explained Morgan. "Guys accept when they're out and feed information back, so it was quite chilled. There were certain stages when me and Cookie were in and they bowled a channel at us to bowl maidens. We said 'fair enough, they can bowl quite wide, let them come to us'. It was quite slow, so it was hard to go after the ball."

In many respects, this was a performance reminiscent of Australia in their early-2000s heyday, not so much because England came out on top in the end, but because of the weapons they used to get to that point. At first there was dour accumulation while the going was tough at the top, with Cook and Justin Langer having more than just their left-handedness in common. Then there was a blistering counterattack in the final third of the day, with Prior and Morgan clattering along at a Gilchristian tempo as they flailed a tiring attack and somehow persuaded the ball to be served up right in their slots.

"Giving up 170 runs at 4.9 [an over] is not good enough having won the toss," said Sri Lanka's batting coach, Marvan Atapattu, who admitted that his team had set their sights on a sub-300 total once Cook's dismissal had reduced England to 201 for 5. And yet, how often were such sentiments expressed in the days when Waugh and Gilchrist comprised Australia's sixth-wicket pairing? Like a break of serve against Rafael Nadal, the challenge against the best opponents is not so much knocking them down, but knocking them out.

It's early days for England in that respect, and they have no single player who comes close to matching Gilchrist, but they've made no secret of their ambition, and amid the misgivings, this has the look of another vastly significant day in their development. "If we want to be a champion side, when our backs are to the wall we want to come out fighting," said Morgan. "We recognise that as a crucial part of our game - we can't just fall over and fold like a deck of cards."

Right at this moment, there even seems to be room in England's line-up for a luxury item. Pietersen has now contributed five runs out of 838 in the series to date, and is more likely to be included on a wishlist for a Desert Island Discs plaything, rather than a list of players to whom you would turn to bat for your life. His latest aberration spoke volumes for his scrambled mindset, as he attempted once again to slap his way out of trouble, rather than subject himself to the sort of painstaking grind that brought him his last consistent run of Test form, in Bangladesh 14 months ago.

Like Matthew Hayden at The Oval in 2005, Pietersen looks as though he needs a score by whatever means it takes, even if it means enduring an afternoon of pointing and laughing from onlookers who remember the dominant personality of old, and cannot equate it with the shell of a batsman now in their midst. Or alternatively, for as long as England keep the faith, he can just carry on trying to batter his way out of a corner, in the knowledge that he might not pull it off every day, but like his old Australian counterparts Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn of old, when he clicks he will do so with a flamboyance that none of his team-mates can match.

"He works twice as hard as anybody - and he's looking good in the nets," said Morgan, with only a hint of annoyance at the raising of a familiar issue. "He's the type of character who could go out easily tomorrow and score 170. He plays match-winning innings, and has done since he's come into the side."

The wait for KP's homecoming may now have to be dragged on for at least another Test, but just as England found a way to force victory in Cardiff despite the absence of their attack leader, James Anderson, so they have found a way to cover for his and other shortcomings at Lord's. So effectively, in fact, that you wouldn't spot the mend unless you knew where the hole in the innings had been made.

[myself]

well lets see. England won the first one with relative ease and were able to uncover the flaws of Sri Lankan batting as well. England are in a strong position in the second Test as well.

I think first test was drawn???
yeah england in driving set .........prior saves them

[DexteR]

I think first test was drawn???
yeah england in driving set .........prior saves them

Apparently Sri Lanka were bowled out for 80 odd runs to give the match to England by an innings and 14 runs.