Sri Lanka v England 2021.

[Durhamfootman]

Bairstow brings the reverse sweep out with him to the middle, and it works for a while, but he's gone now. 62-2

[Durhamfootman]

obviously we can all guess who trapped YJB in front

[Durhamfootman]

honest Joe gone for 11

England still need 76

[Durhamfootman]

3 becomes 4 and with 51 still required England need Sibley and Buttler to stand firm

[Durhamfootman]

England closing in on victory. Remarkable turnaround

Sibley has his 50, which will be a great relief, not just to him, but to the selectors too, because I imagine the ball was doing a fair bit

and there it is

excellent recovery, starting with the bat and then with the ball.

On to India

[alfie]

Good win from a difficult position after losing the toss

Not too much nail chewing in the chase Once they got to 60/1 in 13 overs it was always going to take a bit of a panic session to mess it up. Even when they went four down I felt it was going to be too much for Embuldeniya to bowl them out with very little real support. He really did not deserve to be on the losing side : was excellent throughout.

Looking forward it was good to see Sibley get a score , albeit with a fair slice of luck. Wouldn't say he looks composed against spin ; but it's a start... And Crawley at least got to double figures before he got a good ball. Buttler another good knock , Bairstow a lively affort at three ; and Root has the MoTM , PoTS , and the Moose Clothing Cup ...what more could you ask ?

Look out India

[bigfluffylemon]

Good win. It's easy to be flippant and say England are only beating weak teams (South Africa and Sri Lanka) overseas, but 5 overseas wins in a row is a rare event (the last time was before the last pandemic) - just a few years ago, England would have faltered even against these sides.

Also worth noting that England lost both tosses. Most teams struggle batting second in Sri Lanka. Indeed, only Pakistan have ever won a series here by winning 2 games when they lost both tosses
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engin ... ;type=team

Tougher challenges ahead, but England have won four consecutive series, including two away. I'm going to look on the bright side before India grind us into the dust

[sussexpob]

Just a few years ago England whitewashed Sri Lanka away 3-0, then lost to Windies, bowled by Ireland for 80, failed to win a home ashes series for the first time in a long while and lost to NZ. It didn't pave the way for much glory.

It's hard to obviously rate the series in any form. Sri Lanka have beat some team at home but since hearth retired and dananjaya got banned (I take it seeing as though his ban ended just before this series, they are done with him) they've not been at all good. Medium pace part timers from Zimbabwe taking 8 wicket hauls and drop catches away from losing a test to them shows how bad they've become.

I get the argument playing away here is difficult historically and many good teams have met defeat, but it just doesn't feel comparable.

Someone like Matthews turning around 5 years of horrendous form and making scores is a worry. Giving a century to the worst best consistently picked in his era is a worry. The openers scratching out hardly any substance is a worry.

I expected England to utterly dominate this team, and they didn't. So I guess I'm either wrong and SL is a tougher place I give it credit, or England are a worse team in Asia than I thought.

We will see in India which is true, but I can't see england winning a test there on this performance. They needed to lay down a serious beating to prove their competitiveness imo