Thetownend.com

First test of the summer so of course the starts been delayed  :)

Due to begin at 3.30.

It had to happen.  Weeks without rain and as soon as the cricket starts what happens?  It rains  :badmood:

We have a wicket! 93-1, Swann gets Dilshan for 50

Went along to Sofia Gardens today, first live international game. No play all morning was pretty much expected, pretty pleased to see what I did really, 48 overs was a pretty good show finishing at about 7:15, which is good for the crowd as the light was still there (although at one point that muppet Doctrove started fiddling about with his light meter because the sun had gone behind a cloud).

Don't quite realise how quick the bowlers are on the telly, took me about half an hour to actually see the ball flying through to Prior, who I have a whole lot more respect for that before!

The second Sri Lankan wicket (DRSed one) looked a bit shady to me, nobody in the crowd was expecting it to be overturned, you'd think there'd have to be a little more conclusive proof that that to overturn the decision but there you go.

Cricket is what gays watch when gok wan isn't on  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Are there any mods left to ban this sort of thread or did they all resign dramatically in the wake of the messiah arriving.

Seeing as "The mods" created an entire forum called "Cricket" I suspect you may be out of luck there.

I went to my first international a few years back, England Vs Zimbabwe, and yeah, it is stunning how fast they actually do bowl - even the spinners. 1 second its leaving the bowlers hand, next second its clattering into the boards for a four. Crazy stuff.

When you're 22 yards from it its never as quick as it looks from a distance - there are guys kicking in around at decent club cricket standard who get it down there at similar pace to a lot of county pros - it's only the top 10% of pros who are genuinely quick.

Glenn McGrath remains the best seam bowler I've ever seen and there are a couple of lads at Uni who are probably quicker than he was at the end of his career!

dmr has a fair point - think one of the biggest differences as you go up through the standards is the decrease of lateral flexion/falling away of the bowlers which does give them an extra yard but also much more bounce. At prem league club cricket you might get a bowler the same pace as hoggard for instance, but if a ball comes through at thigh height from the club bowler it comes through at chest height from hoggard

Fair enough, my Cricket is generally played at such a low level that someone bowling at Swann's pace would be considered pretty sharp.

Batted two overs today to get Bell his hundred, declared with a lead of less than 100 in the hope that Sri Lanka self-destruct in a manner that would raise eyebrows.

10-2 would count as an eyebrow raising start!

It would, but this could end up looking a bit silly if we get them 7 or more down by the close when we've wasted four overs (2 + 2 for the changes) letting Bell hit the landmark.

Whatever happens though, this should help preparations for the next test nicely, Tremlett looks very much the real deal, although the question of who replaces Anderson is an interesting one, Shahzad is getting smashed about by Sussex today and Finn would leave us with a rather one-dimensional attack. Someone have a word with Sidebottom and get him to un-retire I think...

Sidebottom got smashed all over Taunton last week also.

Maybe give Dernbach a go. He picked up a number of wickets against Sri Lanka playing for England Lions last week.

Tremlett's got another one. Getting interesting.

4 down. Swanny's got it.

4 down, the few hundred fans there may be about to see something memorable.

Sangakkara gone, 43/5 and we have 33 overs left.

Holy hell.

43-5 now...Swanny strikes again.

We might actually win this... Never would have predicted it this morning.

Maharoof gone!

Under review though...

43-6...and Sri Lanka has used all their reviews.

Gone, 43/6.

Swann is fucking magic.

43-6

Sri Lankans throwing it away.

'We've only got three bowlers!!'

Seven down...

It's a good thing this isn't Pakistan or there'd be trouble afoot.

And Broad has none of them!

8 down...and Swanny has figures of 4-4

This is brilliant, but saddening at the same time, Sri Lanka should have been a much bigger challenge than this.

Their batting is Sri Lanka's strength, but I said at the WC that they do rely on their main three batsmen to get runs. If they fail, they could collapse, as what has happened here.

Also, they haven't liked the cold and wet in Cardiff !!

Why do I get the feeling England will screw it up?

Sheer negativity, we're ace we are.

Top catch Belly!

Nearly there. We could even do it by an innings!

Win by an inns and 14 runs !!!

Broad gets the last one, all out for 82, England win by an innings and 14 runs.

What a magnificent farce.

Doubt even they know how they managed to win that!

I am going to take this moment to nail my colours to the mast ....... my mighty India will slam you in the second half of the summer!  :D

  :wotjump:


Awaits match fixing allegations.

4 wins by an inns in the last 5 tests

How much did that win cost then?

Fuck off, we're the best team in the world by streets - we ought to be pumping SL at home!

Great win today, I went down there and I can say at 2pm I thought it wasn't going to start.  Got a picture with Vaughan!! and "borrowed" a Duke ball :)  Wasn't the best atmosphere but it was great to be there and watch!!

It's a great shame, but I think there has to be an element of doubt about this result.

Agree seems a strange one. To be fair we did bowl well though. I'd probably agree that we're verging on the best test team in the world at the moment. Crazy stuff although it probably won't last.

have either of you noticed that india are miles ahead in the rankings and england haven't beaten them in a test series for 15 years?

India have only really come to the fore in the last 2 years though. They always struggle away from home only recently when they did well in SA have they looked like changing that. If the conditions here stay the same as the last few days throughout the summer then they will struggle. If it's sunny and dry then they won't. For me we've got the best bowling attack. Our batting isn't as strong as them but it's improving bar KP who is useless. I don't really take much notice of the rankings. And we demolished the Aussies away for the first time in 20-odd years I see no reason why we can't beat India this summer if our key players stay fit.

England should've won in India but some superb batting, mainly by Sachin, India chased a big total.

The fact is the rankings are based on results over a 4-5 year period. England are the form team in Test cricket. They've bowled out six test sides for less than 100 in less than a year, and they've beaten, no thrashed, the Aussies by an innings three times. When India beat the Aussies at home a month before the Ashes, the Test matches hung on the sides second innings, and India came out on top. In fact, the Aussies should've really won the first test in India.

I believe if England turn over the Sri Lankans 3-0, England would have to win by a similar margin against India to take over the No.1 spot, which would be a tall order.

Second test, Sri Lanka win the toss and put England in on a clear day at Lords...that's a big call and could well backfire if Cook whacks another few hundred on the board.

Finn in for England, which means our three pace bowlers are 6'5, 6'7 and 6'8.

Tufnell and Blofeld on TMS, happy days.

How can it be a happy day, when the wonderful TEF cricket sub board, has morphed into feeble sport?

Just another example of creeping fascism.....even Gauleiter Youth wouldn't have committed this crime.

These are indeed dark days...

Have you noticed that many of their star players are ageing ?

I might be going to the 3rd day as I am going to London this weekend.

Never been to cricket before.

Strauss out, here comes Trott to bat alongside Cook. Put your feet up gentleman, this may take some time.

I had noticed that they were asian.

Surely all players are ageing? Unless Peter Pan has started to play cricket.

Clearly you haven't seen those Advanced Hair Studio Adverts.

Kallis is suddenly looking a lot younger.

Or not!

Hopefully Bell and Cook can steady the ship somewhat.

When is KP going to be told he's shite and get dropped? He's about as useless as I am with the bat. Waste of space.

yup, mr fucking ego, IMO I thought he was shite in the last ashes

I too have had enough of KP and his shitcunt ways.

Get Hildreth in the mix!

An average of 60, and 3rd highest run scorer behind Cook and Trott, would suggest your opinion might be misguided.

Fact is that Peterson playing means the oposition always play a left hand spinner,meaning Morgan and co get easy pickings ;)

Pietersen is getting cheered every ball he successfully blocks from Herath. Cruel, but funny.

I was at Lords yesterday. We only got to see a couple of hours before lunch and then a short spell after lunch. Ticket was £65, drinks were overpriced, queues for food was monstrous.

However, had a wicked day out and got pretty wrecked! Unbelievable how fast the pace men bowl at, seeing the ball was quite tricky as someone mentioned earlier in the day.

Bloody hell KP made it to double figures. Well I never. In a good position to win this now I think.

Yeah, if Sri Lanka crumble in two sessions again.

To be honest they crumbled again today losing 7 wickets for 100 odd runs. Can see us putting them under real pressure if we can get 250 plus ahead.

I 100% believe we will win this test today.

Do we know what the weather is doing at Lords?  Currently raining here in Calne.  Might put a damper on things if we lose any time today  :badmood:

Bright sunshine a mile or so up the road from Lords here. Go hell for leather for a session this morning and have a go at them this afternoon, draw still heavy favourite but as Cardiff showed it's worth a crack.

He did average 60 in the ashes, think the press are taking his "form" out of context a bit. Admittedly he doesn't look as fluent as days gone by but no way can we justify not having him in the team.

Game on then!

KP's always been a slow starter though, looks vulnerable early on but if he gets in he bats like it's 2005 again- didn't do too badly in Adelaide, did he?

great ball by trott there, and what a useless review

Haha even Trott gets a wicket. Sri Lanka effectivley 4 down with Dilshan injured.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00hf8wq

Tehe.

I see Prior smashed a window at Lord's after he got run out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/13688378.stm

His bat fell against it. Yeah, right.

Haha yeah he clearly smashed it otherwise there wouldn't have been a charge. Quite funny really.

Not the test series, but I went to the ODI at Trent Bridge.
We thrashed them completely in every department.

One day form has been a bit patchy. Had a great performance last night though. Another game like that on Saturday will wrap up a series win. I've been impressed with Cook's instant transition to ODIs and also the way he has handled the captaincy. The man is becoming a run machine in both forms of the game and leading by example. He's becoming a real class act.