England v Sri Lanka - Official First Test Match Thread

[Vrock]

The first Test will take place at the home of cricket, Lords, in which a rested England test side will look forward to more helpful conditions for their pace attack than they received in the sub-continent. Having had plenty of time to rest after a long tour the English side should be physically and mentally fresh, along with some possible new recruits in the form of Mahmood and Lewis to replace the injured Harmison and Jones.

The English batsmen will certainly hope to score lots of runs and continue to try and prove the doubters wrong that their batting is the teams weaker aspect. Can Alastair Cook make an impression at number three? Having had an excellent test debut can he secure a regular spot in the side? Will the middle order fire and all the batsmen make contributions or will we see the Sri Lankan bowlers dominate the English batting order and force a collapse?

The Sri Lankan bowling will be spear headed by Chaminda Vaas, who will certainly cause problems for England's openers and will be the main driving force in the pace department of taking early wickets with the new ball. I would expect the English batsmen to show him a lot of respect in this game, not taking many risks against him. This will be Muttiah Muralitharan's first test match at Lords, quite amazing for a bowler who has been in international cricket for 13 years. He is sure to cause problems, even if the wicket gives very minimal assistance to spin bowlers.

As far as Sri Lanka's batting goes, I think the recall of Sanath Jayasuriya says it all, they lack experience and with Marvan Atapattu missing I think many of the batsmen will struggle. With an inexperienced line up we could see some low scores from many of them. And I feel that runs for Sri Lanka may be dependant very heavily on Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

Winning the toss will be important if conditions are overcast, if the bowling side can take advantage of those helpful conditions then I think we could be seeing a lot of wickets in the first session. However, if either side bat and can see of the new ball with few wickets down. They could easily take advantage of the sunny afternoons when batting becomes easier and set a big total.

The weather forecast looks pretty good, with only rain predicted for the final day, so hopefully we will get at least four days of uninterrupted play.

England will be the favourites going into this match, however I feel that we will see an exciting match with lots of wickets, and hopefully it will be a close contest with some excellent cricket throughout.

[Karthik]

I feel too,that England will win.They should be able to complete a clean sweep.Not that I'm under-estimating Sri Lanka.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Vrock

The English batsmen

"The England batsmen" or (better) "The England and Wales batsmen" would be more accurate: none of Strauss, Pietersen and Jones are English!

[Vrock]

According the the ECB guidelines, you have to have gained citizenship in England/Wales by living there for five years. All of those players you mention have done so, in my eyes, they are English.

I direct you to this in which the matter is discussed.

[greg]

I think England will win and that Hoggard will take a bundle of wickets and become the 10th English bowler to get 200 test victims.It appears from the warmup games that the Sri Lankan batsmen have struggled against bowling that deviates from being straight and Hoggard being the best swing bowler around today should cause a lot of problems.I also think Lewis would get wickets at Lords but fear he won't get a place in the team as they will go with Mahmood instead.

This series is a big opportunity for Alastair Cook to try and cement a place on the ashes tour and i think he has got the technique and temperament to do well over there.I think he will get some runs in this match as well and could become a fixture in the side for years to come.

I am looking forward to seeing a lot of new Sri Lankan players for the first time but expect them to struggle against a decent England team.

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Rachael

... none of Strauss, Pietersen and Jones are English!

Vrock clarifies the situation. When we say England, we should really say England and Wales. Personally I think we should revert to the name MCC.

The way I like to look at it is this: who cares where the players come from, politics only really gives a guideline to choosing eligible players. At the end of the day, this is a cricket match, a game, entertainment. There are so many more pressing issues in the world to consider before what nationality really means on a cricket field.

Enjoy the match and enjoy the players on show. They may be playing for their country, but its sport (not politics) which will have the major impact from cricket matches. We can see test matches as a war between countries, I see it as a cricket match.

I think England will be comfortable in this match. The bowlers are experts in early summer conditions. Lewis should bowl well as this is about the best he'll get anywhere in the world, he should take wickets. Hoggard will too, especially if we see swing. The Sri Lankans may well have problems if England bowl well. The English batsmen should be more comfortable with the conditions, but Vaas should cause some damage. If the pitch is green, Murali might struggle a little.

[Teatime FatCat]

Originally Posted by Rachael

"The England batsmen" or (better) "The England and Wales batsmen" would be more accurate: none of Strauss, Pietersen and Jones are English!

Thats alright - Jones isn't a batsman either!

[Collyisamackem]

I'm sorry, is this a match thread or a pointless whinging session (oh look, the players with English parents and the keeping scapegoat issues again, joy!)?

Back to the match, I expect Mahmood to be chosen given the good weather, which I do not believe will favour swing as much as expected until Saturday or Sunday, by which time a lot of runs could have been scored. Thigns seem to be going for him, but I'm pretty convinced Panesar will play.

[Teatime FatCat]

Oh bloody hell Colly! - well if you're going to be sensible about it - do you think Panesar will fair well against the SL batsmen? I don't mean will he bowl tidily, I mean will he take wickets?

[Collyisamackem]

Sorry to rile you TTFC, it was just a jibe. No offence meant.

Panesar already has a championship 5-for this season, and is bowling well. I think he will cause problems to inexperienced batsmen such as Vandort, Tharanga, Kapugedera etc. and offer the varied attack we need, whilst having the capability to bowl well. I always feel an all-seam attack is too samey to be risked. If the ball doesn't swing I'd rather have a spinning option than see Lewis go for runs, or Mahmood even.