Cricket: 2014 Sri Lanka tour of England, 20th May-20th June

[Amirhussain]

Begins with a T20 tomorrow at the Oval at 6, 5 ODI games and 2 test matches. Going to be a massive series for England, just come off the crushing Ashes Tour of Australia, bowlers and particularly batsmen need to stand up and take control, Cook's captaincy/tactics will be under watch too.

Sri Lanka T20 squad:
Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Chaturanga de Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga (capt), Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ashan Priyanjan, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Kithuruwan Vithanage.

One-day squad:
Angelo Mathews (captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Ashan Priyanjan, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Chathuranga de Silva, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal.

England Twenty20 squad:
Eoin Morgan (Capt), Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes

England ODI squad (matches 1-3)

Alastair Cook(Capt), James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Harry Gurney, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes

[Gargamel]

Think Malinga might be adding to his wicket tally quite nicely on this tour.

Will be good to see how the youngsters go, but my gut feeling is we have a surfeit of mediocrity.

[BlackLabel]

The limited overs stuff will be very competitive however Sri Lanka's test bowling attack looks incredibly weak - if the weather holds up then I can't see anything other than 2 nil to England in the tests.

[Amirhussain]

England won toss and bowling first.

[Amirhussain]

Hoping to see some fireworks from Dilshan.

[Amirhussain]

fking hell, Dilshan almost gone!

[Amirhussain]

9 off the first over

[Amirhussain]

Dilshan bowled for 14, Harry Gurney the wicket taker.

[Amirhussain]

2 down! Perera gone to Chris Jordan, Sri Lanka in a bit of trouble.

[Amirhussain]

43-2 after the end of the powerplay overs.

[Amirhussain]

3 4s in a row, Bopara being taken to the cleaners.

[Amirhussain]

Woakes picking up a wicket, Sri Lanka 3 down.

[Fishtigua]

Amirhussain said:

3 4s in a row, Bopara being taken to the cleaners.

Well that's a shocker!

Why is he still in the team?

[Amirhussain]

Fishtigua said:

Amirhussain said:

3 4s in a row, Bopara being taken to the cleaners.

Well that's a shocker!

Why is he still in the team?

Could be worse, Dernbach could have been playing......

[dav123a]

Decent performance by England v the world champions. Agree with what was said on commentary left it too late to start playing the big shots.

[Gargamel]

Well I just feel massively underwhelmed by this team. I have lost any affection or connection with them, there is no-one there that I really admire, that plays entertaining cricket.

Bopara always looks one bad shot away from a nervous breakdown, and the rest are just humdrum try hards with clearly good skill but nothing I can really buy into.

I don't get excited watching Tredwell bowl, the way I did about Tufnell or Swann. Buttler is as close as the team has got to a "Star" but even he is not really breaking through.

Previous England teams had people in them well known OUTSIDE of cricket. Not now.

Also - they drop really ordinary catches, and that is just awful.

[Podie]

Gargamel said:

Well I just feel massively underwhelmed by this team. I have lost any affection or connection with them, there is no-one there that I really admire, that plays entertaining cricket.

Bopara always looks one bad shot away from a nervous breakdown, and the rest are just humdrum try hards with clearly good skill but nothing I can really buy into.

I don't get excited watching Tredwell bowl, the way I did about Tufnell or Swann. Buttler is as close as the team has got to a "Star" but even he is not really breaking through.

Previous England teams had people in them well known OUTSIDE of cricket. Not now.

Also - they drop really ordinary catches, and that is just awful.

Sadly, I have to agree.

Despite having tickets for the ODI and both Lords tests, I find myself more excited about the prospect of a day out with friends / family and a few beers followed by a curry, than the England cricket team

Still, MCC v The World hasn't lost its appeal.

[Challo]

Amirhussain said:

Fishtigua said:

Amirhussain said:

3 4s in a row, Bopara being taken to the cleaners.

Well that's a shocker!

Why is he still in the team?

Could be worse, Dernbach could have been playing......

I did wonder where he was.

[Gargamel]

Cook says the New Era for England starts today.

More gumpf from the guy. Does he have any idea how stupid it sounds. Why not be more pragmatic,

"We are rebuilding, we want to try a few new players out, this will be a good test for us and we know Sri Lanka area good side."

Players, Captains and Coaches can't determine when the "New Era" starts, though I would suggest it might start a bit quicker if they realised how far they have fallen, and start being a bit more humble.

[Amirhussain]

Gargamel said:

Cook says the New Era for England starts today.

More gumpf from the guy. Does he have any idea how stupid it sounds. Why not be more pragmatic,

"We are rebuilding, we want to try a few new players out, this will be a good test for us and we know Sri Lanka area good side."

Players, Captains and Coaches can't determine when the "New Era" starts, though I would suggest it might start a bit quicker if they realised how far they have fallen, and start being a bit more humble.

Agree with that, 'new era' sounds stupid.