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

I worry for Sri Lankas future in the longer format of the game, if they couldnt beat this England team on home soil, or on a pitch like this where its set up for them. They have a couple of decent players, surrounded by a lot of dross. England have won what, 6 out of 7 tests, without a real top class spinner, no established 1,2,3... a 4 thats been off his best, 5,6 not scoring.....

Is this test cricket in 2018? A battle of how many tailenders you can cram into terrible top orders?

Arthur Crabtree wrote:There have been some Lions matches where Leach has really been pumelled, so I'm not sure he'll usually be as stingy with the economy rate. And there's a suspicion he's not as good in the CC away from his home Turnton wickets, so we'll have to see if he looks a wicket taker on flatter tracks. He didn't threaten much on his debut in NZ.

Mo of course does better on home pitches. It's encouraging that he's done well on dustbowls in this series. But his performances in Australia last winter made me lose a bit of faith in him as a lead spinner.

Moeen had a rotten time in Australia - which is in any case a tough place for visiting spinners - but it was actually so bad I am inclined to put a lot of blame on his finger injury at the start of the tour . And following from that his sharp loss of confidence (I think we'd all agree he tends to be a bit fragile in that department regarding his bowling). So - for now - I'm rather disregarding it in assessing him.
If they're playing just one spinner at home next year I'd still think he'd likely be it.

I quite like what I saw of Leach but share your reservations re bowling at places other than Taunton or Sri Lanka...Will be interesting to see him in West Indies , if he gets a chance there.

sussexpob wrote:I worry for Sri Lankas future in the longer format of the game, if they couldnt beat this England team on home soil, or on a pitch like this where its set up for them. They have a couple of decent players, surrounded by a lot of dross. England have won what, 6 out of 7 tests, without a real top class spinner, no established 1,2,3... a 4 thats been off his best, 5,6 not scoring.....

Is this test cricket in 2018? A battle of how many tailenders you can cram into terrible top orders?

Especially with the test batting average of players of your country, it is indeed a matter of huge concern for Lanka. Bowling is obviously a concern for SL.

Another important factor imo is the toss. England won both the toss. They failed to follow the template in Asia fully though by not scoring anything between 400- 500. But the spinners ensured that a match winning lead was there which put enough 4th innings pressure on SL.

In second match too, England again opted to bowl last. The batting unit in this test too failed to post a good first innings total, neither did bowlers bail them out. Joe Root will rate this as one of his best knocks in test cricket as it turned the match in England's favor and gave England bowlers a match winning total on Day 4 spinners wicket.


England were under par in both first innings in spite of winning toss. There is huge scope of improvement in that aspect. Spin bowling strategy is better with three spinners for spinning wicket. Rashid needs to pick more wickets. 7 wickets after bowling in 4 innings in Asia is poor show. Moreover 2 innings he was bowling with opposition under huge pressure and Day 4 wicket which was giving good spin to him. He has massively under performed imo. Even the one with all-rounder tag has outperformed him.

Rashid hasn't bowled enough googlies

It's his best delivery by miles but he seems determined to bowl mainly leg breaks

Very few batsmen can actually read his googly, he's definitely underused it

England are leaving out James Anderson for the Test on Friday. Stuart Broad comes in. Bairstow will replace Curran and bat at three. Apparently England will have had a different number three in each game.

much as I like Sam Curran, on these pitches he's a waste of a bowling pick. Makes sense to use this test to get JB1 back into the side

not often England do anything resembling 'sense'

Arthur Crabtree wrote:England are leaving out James Anderson for the Test on Friday. Stuart Broad comes in. Bairstow will replace Curran and bat at three. Apparently England will have had a different number three in each game.

Ali, Stokes and Bairstow, none of whom strike me as a Test No 3.

Wish they would bloody pick Denly at 3, that's why he was selected in the first place!

England's number threes since the beginning of 2016.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

Joe Root does much better than anyone else, but not as well as he does at 4&5. Which is the dilemma.

You'd imagine leach, moeen and Rashid are bowling for 2 spots in the West Indies

Rashid likely needs a big game to stay in the side

I think Mo is under far more pressure than Rashid right now to be honest...

andy wrote:I think Mo is under far more pressure than Rashid right now to be honest...

Mo is bowing nearly double the overs Rashid is per innings when both are in the team, so it appears the captain favours Mo over Rashid. Mo actually averages 27 per wicket this year, and 31 last year, which is comfortable enough (Rashid has take 17 wickets at 30, but in 8 games thats not much of a haul) in performance to keep him there despite his batting failures.

Knowing England, they will probably drop Leach, move Rashid to open, and play two spinners.