Nice to see Joe get a ton over in Sri Lanka. YJB went early but Joe still there (unless I've jinxed him) and getting good support from Lawrence (unless I've jinxed him too )
It is only Sri Lanka who haven't played for ages, but it's good to see that better technique is being rewarded over t20 slogging. Obviously still a few remnants from that style, but 1 or 2 isnt a bad thing if you need to set up a game or take the game away from an opponent. As we saw previously though, most of the top 7 were flat track sloggers.
Excellent work! Just been reported that is the record partnership (between Root and Lawrence) for England for any wicket at Galle - beating the 114 Root and Bairstow put on earlier in this match. So the record has been broken twice in this match
Excellent news will watch the highlights later - Not so keen as to get up early and cant really watch and work Felt a bit sorry for Sri Lanka yesterday. they didnt play well but had some really bad luck especially the guys that were out caught off Bairstows foot and run out backing up. Thought they had Root as well only for the VAR to show the ball was over the top by a few microns. England well on top now. Good news for Lawrence getting off to a good start though I see he has been dropped
Not much he could with that, turn, big bounce and gloved him playing off the back foot. Excellent first innings from him though. If he can apply himself like that against seam and pace, we've unearthed a good one. Time will tell.
Is it? One of the commentators yesterday said it was their first Test game since the pandemic started. Must say, I didn't feel the need to check that information. Particularly as their batting display looked like they hadn't practiced for a year, let alone played ;-) Edit... just looked on cricinfo and see they turned up for 2 tests in SA. Commentator must have meant tests in Sri Lanka.
Played 2 tests in South Africa mate. They got battered in very different conditions and got loads of injuries, but they have been playing. It was mainly their bowlers that got injured too so no real excuses for their batting performance.
Literally just edited my post above as you were replying. Real shame Sri Lanka have regressed so badly. Had some incredible players and loved watching Jayawardene and Sangakarra bat. True greats.
They played 2 tests in South Africa either side of the new year. They were poor in both of those as well.
Yeah it's such a shame they're on the downturn, hopefully they can sort it out and come back up the rankings. Listening to Jayawardene on Sky now, it's clear there's a lot of issues off the field over there. Loved watching those 2 you mentioned, but also Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Murali, Herath, Malinga, Vaas etc. They really have produced some amazing and unique cricketers.