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England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Trent Bridge, 2nd day
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of June, 3 Comments »
(Posted in advance)
The first day brought twelve wickets and it was (just) England’s day. But on what is expected to be a warm summer’s day, on a pitch already threatening to flake, Muttiah Muralitharan ought to have a huge say on proceedings - even on this, the second day. Will England be able to keep him out?
3 Comments »Jayasuriya included in Sri Lanka squad
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of June, No Comments; be the first!
The third and final Test between England and Sri Lanka gets underway at Trent Bridge tomorrow, and Sanath Jayasuriya has been included in a 12-man squad for Sri Lanka. For the visitors, who must be delighted at the forecasters’ prediction of hot weather over the next week, all hope once again rests on the shoulders of their white-eyed maestro Muttiah Muralitharan. Only he stands in the way of a series victory for England.
Meanwhile England will continue to experiment with their young players, and I’m particularly keen on keeping a close eye on Sajid Mahmood. Our colleage at Cricinfo, the venerable Gnasher, is a proud Lancastrian which brings with it inevitable calls of “Coom on Sajy!” every time Mahmood warms up. And though he showed promise at Lord’s, he was convincingly outbowled by Liam Plunkett at Edgbaston who has had the better series of the two. His often-discussed lower-order batting potential has get to flourish - well, he’s not had much of a chance - but only a really poor performance at Nottingham will mark an otherwise blemish-free card. He looks a fine prospect.
Rock on, I say.
No Comments »Pietersen’s 142
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of May, 3 Comments »
A remarkable day’s cricket today, memorable in so many ways. To start with, I don’t think Kevin Pietersen has played a more attractive or extraordinary hundred for England. His 158 at the Oval last year was special, but today’s contained shots the calibre of which few can dream of. The outrageous flicks from off to leg (usually for four); the clever use of his crease, changing the bowlers’ lengths; and that reverse-swept six, off Muttiah Muralitharan of all people. It was an innings of impossible courage and rare skill, and a complete joy to watch.
I wrote some things about him and Murali’s battle, which is a certain highlight of the summer so far.
3 Comments »The return of the comical
By Will 2 years ago, mid-May, 4 Comments »
In an era obsessed with professionalism, multi-dimensional players and do-it-alls, today demonstrated that - in the English public’s mind at least - there is still room for the comical and absurd. Monty Panesar, who surely owns the most regal of names in English cricket, had a howler in the field, an absolute howler. I was going to write some musings on it but have just noticed my editor has done similar so, go read his.
It was just quite a comforting sight to see someone so gangly in the field; he almost appeared to have four arms, flailing around like a blind octupus. Best of all, he has been immediately accepted into the public’s bosom: they love him. In Panesar they see a man who, like thousands of club cricketers up and down the land, make the very same gaffes and howlers every Sunday. He’s human, and normal - and a damn fine bowler to boot.
I’ve written in the past about tailenders (RIP). On a similar note, I now want an influx of rubbish fielders. There’s nothing better than watching a fielder nervously kneel down, hands at the ready, preparing for the exocet to arrive before WOOPS! there it goes, straight through the gaping hole between knee and leg and through for four! Brilliant.
Rock on, Monty - and well bowled. Not only was his line immaculate - I don’t remember him bowling a single bad delivery - but his pace was perfect for the pitch. As useful as ol’ Ashley Giles was, he had a tendancy to bowl a touch too slow. In fact it’s a problem most spinners have, and is also what makes Murali and Warne so devastatingly effective. Monty is no Murali, and is certainly no Warne - but he’s a damn fine Monty and let’s be glad we have him!
4 Comments »1000 Murali wickets
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of March, 8 Comments »
I think it was Courtney Walsh who first broke through the 500-Test barrier and, at the time, I remember feeling utterly amazed that anyone could have got so far. I was equally doubtful that anyone would ever better it. Since then, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muraliatharan have waltzed past it as though it were nothing; Warne broke past 600 at Old Trafford in the summer. Today, though, Murali has gone past 1000 international wickets! It makes Walsh’s effort look pitiful and feeble*
Rather appropriately, his 100th wicket was controversial: “Khaled Mashud was given out caught when the ball only hit his pad” (S.Rajesh / Cricinfo)
* I am, of course, joking. It’s all very well for these glitzy spinners to take hundreds of wickets, but it’s all the more incredible for a fast bowler to manage it.
8 Comments »What Statsguru can tell us about the first final between Australia and Sri Lanka
By Scott 2 years ago, mid-February, 3 Comments »
I played around with Cricinfo’s statsguru program so I could write a post about the first final for the Cricinfo blog Different Strokes. Ironically, that blog is down, as indeed are all of cricinfo’s blogs. Some technical malady has smited them. So because I’m going to the game and won’t be here to post anything, I’ve taken the liberty of reprinting it here.
Thanks to Tuesday’s result, we now know that Sri Lanka will play Australia in the finals of the VB series. This is good for the series, because in my opinion, Sri Lanka are better equipped then South Africa are to cause an upset win in at least one of the fixtures and push the series into a third final. Which is something that has not happened for twelve seasons. The trend strongly is that the team that wins the first final goes onto win.
So for Sri Lanka, to win the first final is very important indeed. If they can somehow conjure up a win in Adelaide on Friday night, they will have a great fillip, and the second final is on their favourite Australian ground, Sydney. Between now and Friday, Sri Lanka’s coach Tom Moody will be working on a game plan to surprise the Australians, and he’ll probably use Cricinfo’s Statsguru program. Let’s see what Statsguru says.
The variations of scheduling help here, since these sides have met 15 times since 2002/03. This gives us a good sample to work with, and from these results, certain trends can be inferred.
Australia has dominated recent meetings between the sides, winning eleven and losing only four. The alarming figure for Sri Lanka is that Australia have batted first seven times in the fifteen, and won six out of the seven. Whereas, Sri Lanka have batted first eight times, and won three of those matches.
So Sri Lanka would like to bat first. In those eight matches where they batted first, they won three with scores of 343/5, 245 and 309/7. The other five scores were below that, and they lost all five. So they know if they bat first and can score 245 or more, they have given themselves a good chance to win.
And history at the Adelaide Oval certainly backs that plan up. Adelaide Oval has hosted 60 limited overs matches, and the team batting first has won 35, but recent history is strongly in favour of the team batting first, with eight out of the last ten being won by the side batting first.
However there is one small problem with this scenario for Sri Lanka. They have to win the toss and bat first.
If Australia win the toss and bat first, Sri Lanka have a problem. Of the last seven times Australia batted first they have won six of them. The only game they did not win, they scored 198/7. They have defended several scores in the mid 200 range as well as scoring over 300 three times. So Australia will be very confident that they can defend anything over 200.
So Tom Moody has to somehow find a weakness in Australia’s armour. Thanks to Statsguru, we can fine tune our search. Let’s look at the last 15 games where Australia won the toss, batted first, and lost the game.
What is interesting here is that while Australia has quite a few low scores in that lot, the mean score over the last fifteen is 221; and further looking around suggest that eleven of Australia’s last fifteen defeats came while batting first.
The common thread is that Australia have lost by losing a lot of early wickets, and getting either bowled out, or close to it.
So this should flow into Sri Lanka’s tactics. They have three bowlers who can take wickets, Vaas, Muralithiran and Bandara. My own feeling is that Sri Lanka should look to try and bowl these key figures early, and dispense with at least one of the powerplays until the 40 over mark. Because if history shows anything, if Australia still have top-six batmen in at the 40 over mark, the score will already be past 200 and Sri Lanka’s chances will be slim indeed. So the key thing is to attack at all costs, take early wickets, and keep taking them. If Australia are able to bat through their fifty overs, Sri Lanka will find it very hard to chase them down, and the history of the venue also points to that.
I somehow doubt that Tom Moody will instill this sort of attacking gameplan into his charges; Marvan Attapatu is not one of the attacking captains. However, thanks to Statsguru, we can see that to win, he’ll need to win the toss and bat, and failing that, he’ll need to use his bowlers in a very aggressive manner to stop Australia.
3 Comments »South Africa v Sri Lanka, VB Series, Perth
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of January, 4 Comments »
What a dull match. It threatened interest when Murali grabbed a couple during South Africa’s run chase, but ultimately Sri Lanka were doomed after the 20th over (thereabouts; I’ve been up since 4am bulletining the game, so forgive any tiredness-induced inaccuracies). They lost 9 for 85! Utter carnage, and such a waste too.
Sanath Jayasuriya played beautifully, and ought to have been raising his bat to the crowds for another hundred; his lazy cut into the hands of seemed to send shivers down the Sri Lankans’ spines. To a man, their response to Jayasuriya’s downfall was to replicate it to the best of their ability: poor shots; lazy shots; silly shots; and the running between the wickets was laughable.
It’s a shame when teams let themselves down. Sri Lanka have so much ability, you do wonder how good they could become if they added consistency and responsibility to their bow. Now go and read my bulletin.
4 Comments »Murali and Warne united
By Will 3 years ago, mid-January, 1 Comment »
BBC SPORT | Cricket | Photo Galleries | Tsumani Appeal match launch photos
What a great photo; two of the world’s greatest spinner’s smiling and united
