What now?

[greg]

What the heck is going on?

We are struggling bigtime at present and there doesn't look like there is any light at the end of the tunnel,we have contrived to lose a match having bowled the opposition out for less than 200 despite scoring 540 runs in the match,an excellent achievement to lose even by our own standards as 9 times out of 10 if you do what we did on day 1 you should win comfortably not lose comfortably.

Our best batsman has a broken finger,our best bowler a knackered back and our best all rounder is at home after his umpteenth operation on his dodgy ankle.I can see this getting worse before it gets better but what is worrying me most is the fact that we will probably be relying on James Anderson and Steve Harmison to lead the attack in the next game,if i was the keeper i'd be getting some diving practice going as he will need it.

I thought we may have turned a corner with the one day success in Sri Lanka a few weeks back but it would appear that the one day side is improving just as the test side slumps pathetically.

Number 2 in the world? Don't make me laugh.

[Rachael]

Why so negative? he side looks to me to be in great shape: Cook had more time in the middle as a runner for Hoggard than in his two innings... but has been in good nick... the rest of the batting looks good... there's another batsman who's possibly better than those playing sat in the pavillion... and there's at least one seamer pressing a very good case for a recall.

The next two pitches should be more conducive to spin... which should also sort the no 8 position... so with Harmison and Sidebottom opening... the side looks balanced and competitive - good news.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by greg

Number 2 in the world? Don't make me laugh.

For me it's time for wholesale changes.. It's time to panic.. everything is wrong...

None of the players are any good, we should fly them all back now...

Moores should resign, Gibson has not done anything since he started and as for Flower, he knows nothing how was he made a coach....

The fact that we were facing a side that beats most teams on their home turf is irrelevant.. we are the worst side in the world and struggle against Kenya at this rate

[Notts Exile]

The fight for number two in the World is a tough one. At present there are several sides who are close to being there. We're just having a patch where we cannot put out a settled side through injuries etc. Look at is, Sri Lanka are at home and at full strength. We are missing a few players and lost the Test narrowly. How we react to that defeat will say much about the team.

[greg]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

For me it's time for wholesale changes.. It's time to panic.. everything is wrong...

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit you know.

So you are happy with the way things are going are you?

You must be looking forward to the prospect of Anderson playing because Hoggard is injured and bowling dross again?

I for one am not,but strike me down for being unhappy with a defeat when we had the opposition 42-5 on day 1.

[Seamer]

It's not as if England collapsed to a lame innings defeat. When they needed 100 runs with 4 wickets left, it looked a 50/50 prospect didn't it?

There was no shame in that loss IMO. Now i don't know the stats exactly, but i suspect very few teams win at Kandy batting second. It's one of those tosses you really need to win.

The fact England came close is a credit to them. If not for that absolute shocker against Sidebottom, they would have saved it. Time to start using the "hotspot" technology i think.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by greg

I for one am not,but strike me down for being unhappy with a defeat when we had the opposition 42-5 on day 1.

I am not happy, but England fans depress me... at the end of the Ashes 05 we where the best team in the world (which we were not, we were just the best team over 5 hard Tests) at the end of the Ashes 06-07 we were the worst.

For me NE is right we are second, we have been for a long time, but there is quite a competition for that place, and for me Sri Lankan are one of those teams that could claim that spot (along with India, Pakistan and South Africa)

We have lost one Test at Kandy, it is not the end of the world!! As Seamer pointed out we were hardly disgraced by the defeat. The fact is that it was always going to be hard. But the fact is that we were beaten by one fantastic innings by Sangakkara, who was the difference between the two teams, IMO.


The loss of Hoggard is going to be hard to take, but for me Harmison may just have been given the jolt he needs by being dropped, and he was bowling much better (by all accounts) before he pulled up with a back injury, and in the nets.

For me the choice is simple two spinners, two seamers and get Shah in over Bopara.. No panic just a tinker

[Trescothick's Footwork]

England consistently over-achieve anyway, have been doing so for years. The only country in the world from the main test playing nations with less world class players is New Zealand, who have none. We only have one (Pietersen), with maybe Bell maturing into one. Sri Lanka have 3. We do well because of the teamwork, and also because of Vaughan's superb and under-rated captaincy. But we really need everyone fit, and without Hoggard and Pietersen, I fear a whitewash here.

[first change]

No need to panic. We lost a Test match. New Zealand got battered twice by South Africa and were pathetic. I'm confident we'll beat them in the spring but Sri Lanka away in a monumental ask. What to do? Simple, with Hoggard unfit, here's the side for Colombo - Cook, Vaughan, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bopara, Prior, Swann, Sidebottom, Harmison, Panesar.

Yes, it's a big blow to be without Hoggard, but Harmison is still potentially a match-winner and we need that. Tough on Anderson but he had a poorish game. Expect lots of spin, so Swann is an obvious choice and adds batting depth. Plus, and I'm not joking here, Sangakarra's run will end soon - it must do. With Jayasuria gone, there are frailities to exploit in SL's batting. Monty needs to up his game, but we're still in with a shout of getting something out of this series.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

I'd pretty much agree with that First Change, possibly put Broad instead of harmison, but I'd be doing that with Broads batting in mind (which is wrong really) rather than giving it to harmo and telling him to perform or bugger off. If we had drawn this test, I'd have picked broad but like it as not, harmo on his day (which is rare) is still a matchwinner, albeit one who doesnt do it often.