Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

8 byes in the first over

either Malinga has been wild or the keeper hopeless

Rain stopped play with England well ahead on D/L.

Any chance they'll get back out there?

Doesn't look like it and there isn't a reserve day.

England win another series.

Looked like they were taking the Michael Vaughan route to that total, keeping wickets in hand and leaving numbers 6-7 to have a heroic dart.

Seems Joe Root was reprieved by not enough fielders in the right zones. Doesn't happen often. That could have made the DL tighter.

Next game on Tuesday. Will they give a game to the players not yet to take the field? That's Denly, S.Curran, Plunkett and Wood.

England 3 Rain 1 Sri Lanka 0

Rain probably unlucky in a couple of the games in this tri series, and could conceivably be 4-0-0 up!

Think Stone has fallen back in the pecking order. Expect changes in the last game - Denly, Plunkett

A bit sudden after he was showered with praise earlier in the series.

Gone round the park, and is still a little way from being ready...Plunks deserves to retain his place for now

Not all that fast.

Pecking order
Woakes (excellent first 5 overs) s/r 33.3
Plunkett (good middle overs wickets) s/r 30.4
Stokes, undroppable (hardly bowls his 10 overs or takes wickets) s/r 39.9
Willey (improving left arm, even got a go bowling at the death recently) s/r 36.6
T Curran (specialist death bowler) s/r 28.0
Wood (hardly takes wickets but in for his perceived speed) s/r 51.2
Stone (early days but could be another Wood) s/r 96.0, less of the short balls
S Curran stand in for Willey s/r 18.0
Ball (who knows, do they see him as another Broad) s/r 45.0

My best Woakes S Curran Plunkett T Curran

For me the only seamer in white ball cricket who is undroppable at the moment is Plunket...

Slipstream wrote:Think Stone has fallen back in the pecking order. Expect changes in the last game - Denly, Plunkett

Strange pick as his white ball record is terrible in domestic cricket

They probably just wanted to give Stone a few overs in pressure situations in SL before the tests. Can't understand why you would pick him otherwise.

SKY
India seamer Jasprit Bumrah tops the ICC's ODI rankings with Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan in second, but Moeen Ali feels his great mate Rashid can lay claim to being the best 50-over bowler in the world.

"He's always had ability but I think he's now at his peak as a spinner," said Ali. "He's got all the skills and can bowl like Rashid Khan, he can bowl like any spinner. He has all the balls.

"I think he's really found his pace and his trajectory. He's a fantastic spinner and he's right up there. I know Rashid Khan is probably the best but I think Rash, in my opinion, is even better.

52 ODIs 118 wickets at 14.47 econ 3.90 s/r 22.2 - Rashid Khan
77 ODIs 118 wickes at 30.23 econ 5.51 s/r 32.8 - Rashid

RK's stats are amazing, but of course he substantially plays against associate nations. He's only played 13 games against top nine sides, almost exclusively against WI and BD. He has one game each against Pakistan, SL and India, none v the rest. OK, he's done just as well against those teams (!) but it's not allowed them the chance to work him out, and it is such a small sample of games.