Thetownend.com

First test today,started well.My uncle has gone out there,lucky bloke.

TMS had me crying with laughter,poor Gefforey Boycott staying in the same hotel as Aggers   ;D

Lying in bed watching this, finally a good reason to be unemployed :) Hows the little one larwood?

Is he in the ground Larwood?  Or is stood on the fort watching from there for free rather than paying the extortianate entrance fee?

Heard that,the banter between them two is ace.

Jayawardene is gun

Oh Monty ..... That attempted catch was comic!  :doh:

And Monty drops another  :doh: :doh:

After the start we had really should have been looking at knocking them over for about 250. Jayawardene brought them right back into this.

A big let-off for the Sri Lankans.

Hopefully we perform with the bats this time, though I think Bopara's absence will be felt.

I think Patel was the right choice .... 

In the recent one day trips to India and Dubai he has played spin as well as anyone.  Plus an additional spin option in those conditions was handy as shown by his two wickets.

Agreed. Getting a bit concerned about Swann though. Looked very ineffectual today.

Agree about Swann.  If he was getting no wickets but keeping it tight then fine.  But he went for nigh on 4 an over.

When the summer comes though and its back to one spinner he will get the nod due to his better batting and fielding over Monty.

England 65-4.

Kp out having a lazy drive first ball after lunch.  Really poor.

Prior gone now. 72/5 now ....

Here comes the Indian to bail you out ..... Come on Samit .....

I do hope this isn't going to be a repeat of the Pakistan series.  Doesn't look good...

Monty and Jimmy making hay ...... The top order should be embarrased by there showing!

Wow 14/3 with Jayawardene gone. Game on.

4 down now .... Sangakarra gone!

Swanny and Monty both bowling well

Made a good start this morning,at least Swann has got some wickets in this test.

Just a shame really that the batsmen will struggle to make 200 and the Sri Lankan lead is 240 at the mo.

No way my uncle is going to see five days!

Bloody rubbish attempt by England to get the last wicket ......

Shows its not a bad pitch and run making is possible  .....

Would love to have hope of us getting 340 but after recent batting displays in these conditions I can't see it!

Cook gone and Trott survives a review ....

I have had a token £20 on England at 7/2, before the 4th innings started.  Based on the fact the law of probabilities rather than common sense .....

What kind of a bloody shot was that Strauss! Grrrrr ........... I want my £20 back!

On the upside ........ I am looking forward to England going to India in the winter :-)

Straussy you fucking egg

Cracking finish in prospect ....

England need 229
Sri Lanka need 8 wickets ....

Will England's once glorious but now fragile batting line up get the required runs? :hmmm: :hmmm:

No,they will start well....then crumble.

But i hope i am wrong.

Kp and bell gone.  England still 188 short!!!

Not happening :(

I still fancy England!

Come on Samit

This is turning in to an intriguing match.  Fair play to England for coming back in to the game.  Nothing fancy needed now.  Just need Trott and Prior to sit there for the next session.

Oh Matty .... What have you done .... That flaming sweep!

Heres comes the Indian to see England home! .... Come on Samit!

Always a tough ask this, can't believe we briefly went favourites with the bookies there. Valiant effort this innings, unfortunately the damage was done earlier in the match.

Stupid Indian ....

Broad hobbling around ....

At least Monty looked in decent nick in the first innings!

Trott gone .... Start the Engine!

Sacked off the gym this morning to watch this...right now I'm regretting that decision! Come on Jimmy!!!

Ah balls.

Bring back Tiny Tim.

4 test matches in Asia this winter .... 4 defeats ...... None getting into a 5th day .....

Must be changes to the batting line up now ......

James Hildrith
James Taylor
Alex Hales
Steven Davies (May be good enough to play as a batter alone)
Jamie Vince
Tom Maynard
Jason Roy

Anyone who starts the season well, will have a real chance .....  

they are good young players but none exactly tore it up themselves in bangladesh and sri lanka on lions tours this winter

Thats a fair point but the next winter tour is in India and I am certain we will have 2 and maybe even 3 spinners in our line up.

I am going to that and as much as I want to see India win, I also want to see some decent cricket that goes 5 days!

Mind you though, the top 5 (Strauss, Cook, Trott, KP and Bell) will probably make a hatful at home in the summer, and will stroll out for the first test in India.

fuckssssssssake

340 was never going to be chased down against those spinners!

How many wickets again fell to an England Batsman playing a sweep shot?!?!

Not holding much hope for the 2nd test either, although we'll come home against Windies and South Africa, pile on the runs in home conditions and wallop them which I wouldn't be suprised at!

No real mystery in those spinners.  Bog standard left arm orthodox!

Can that sweep shot.  Strauss and KP out giving bowlers the charge!

If we do get a really dry summer, watching these batsmen play Tahir on a drying pitch might be fun!  Havent got a hope in hell of picking him!

We seem to have a knack of making ordinary spinners look absolutely world class...Ajmal I would say is, but the other Pakistani lad (Hafeez?) who bowled part time had us in all sorts of bother and with no disrespect to the 2 sri lankans they have nothing on Murali (imagine if he was still around in this test match :S ) but managed to pick up 16 wickets in the match!

Because they were utterly clueless against Ajmal, they tried to make hay against Hafeez and Rehman and got tore apart!

Also you cant get away from the impact the DRS has had.  A lot of these LBW's wouldnt have been given a few years back and batsmen could play these shots firmly in the knowledge it was highly unlikely with a reasonable stride the umpires were going to give them out.

The DRS has shown the umpires in fact these should be given out and hence has totally changed there mindset.  The failure of these England players to adapt is criminal! 

True,but no more criminal than the Indian team refusing to accept DRS in their Test Matches, in my opinion.

Also, Swann is benefitting hugely from this, so perhaps it's a failure of all batsmen ?

Fair point on Swann.  I dont think he had all that great a tour of UAE though did he?  And only 1 of his 6 wickets in the second innings came via LBW.  I think in the sub continent, asian batsmen tend not to premeditate the sweep and only really sweep if the ball is really full.  By premeditating the sweep England got themselves into all sort of strife with the ball rarely being full enough.

In the summer Swann will have a field day against the west indies with all their lefties!

If I was the BCCI, I would be jumping over hoops to get the full DRS in for when England visit.

I did notice that in this series that has hawkeye, but not hotspot.  The ICC need to step in where it is to expensive for boards to have full system and help out financially.

Similar start to the last test .... England take 3 quickly .... Then jayawardene leads the fight back ....

He really is some player!

Here we go again...score of 300+ looks likely, lost the toss....have I given up the ghost already, winter whitewash on the cards!

Jayawardene gone. At last.

First English batsmen tomorrow who is given out sweeping a ball pitching on the stumps should get a serious beating!  My moneys on Ian Bell.

I concur - reckon it'll Straussy though.

Jayawardene says he's surprised at Panesar being dropped on a pitch that will break up by day 3!

Ultimately he has been done for by the failure of the top 5!  Instead of sorting out the batting by giving one the batters a kick up the arse, they have gone for the defensive option of letting the top 5 get away with murder and sacrificing a spinner.  Then hoping that the additional few runs of Bresnan and Patel will let them get away with it.

They might well get away with it, but long term Patel has about as much of test match future as I have!

FWIW, I still think England will win.  I must be crazy!  Though they have to get a first innings lead.  Even a lead of 50-75 if it does break up will be massive!

so far so good today....

Going fine at the moment,but i fear a classic england batting collapse is just around the corner.

So this is what happens when you dont sweep and play with the bat then ......

Jesus.Knew i spoke too soon.Although i always had a feeling we'd see Jimmy out batting before stumps.

So many england fans,the support is superb,got to love it.

Im not his biggest fan but if there was ever a time for KP this is it.
A solid start against tiring bowlers it's setup for a big innings from him.

And to be fair this is usually the situation that he does well, just not so good at grinding out an innings.

KP is flying at the moment, 316/3 with a lead of 41. KP's knocking boundaries with ease - he's so good to watch in this mood.

Yup, shame we only get about one innings a year like this

 Good to see an STFC flag on display

Fantastic innings from KP, hopefully they can push on and get 450+.

Wish KP played could do this sort of innings more often!

Watching KP bat this morning was well worth getting up for. Sri Lanka looks like a pretty decent place to go and watch cricket.

As someone mentioned, great to see a massive STFC flag out there. Wouldn't belong to anyone on here would it?

great to wake up this morning and see the score!This is like the England we have come to know with the bat! A lead of 150+ would be ideal here!

Well batted KP! now some biffing from the lower order to see us get a good lead wouldnt go a miss!

England 460 all out. Decent innings. Shame the tail couldn't push us up to 500 but Sri Lanka have to face at least one over tonight.

Love hearing the barmy army singing all day!
Also, one of the cameras loved the blonde in the pink dress! She was rather good looking though!

Wow! Thats why KP is always in the team,when he does it he looks like an absolute king.

So happy to see the batsmen doing what they are suppose to do at last,really felt for the bowlers all winter,doing the hard graft and seeing the batsmen throwing it away.

Maybe we are going to retain the number one slot after all  :hmmm:

Ha ha.Have to say, from my own female perspective, all the shots of the beer bellied tattoed men haven't got me too excited  :D

The support is amazing,really wish i was there,win or lose :)

Why ever not? Some the moobs on show were top class!

One thing i wasnt to do at some point is to go to the ashes in OZ with the BA, would be quality

Good to see KP getting a big ton.The umpires seemed to get themselves into a state of
confusion,with the ridiculous ICC rule on the reverse sweep.Just let the batsmen play it
if they want to.

To be fair to them Maizy it was Dilshan calling it....they were just following the laws.

Loved the Story about Boycott and Gavasker traveling together in Pakistan,Boycott didn't have his pass and started getting lippy with the security guard who pointed his gun at Boycott.
With this Boiks puts his hands in the air and shouts...DONT SHOOT DONT SHOOT! points at Gavasker  and says to the guard....better off shooting him as he is Indian :eek:

Hard work this.  Could take a fair bit of tomorrow to winkle them out then a teasing little chase.

Pitch not broken up as much as I thought and Sangakarra is due.

Swann gets Sanga, getting there.

Could do with getting Jayawardene before stumps.  He is a god.  Could see England having to chase down 150 off 40 overs tomorrow.

2 big wickets just before the close from Swann.

SL now lead by 33 with only 4 wickets left.