England v Sri Lanka - Official Third Test Match Thread

[Vrock]

The final Test between England and Sri Lanka will take place at Trent Bridge, Sri Lanka have never played at Trent Bridge before so it will be new territory for them in settling down to the differing atmosphere and no doubt pitch conditions.

England have named the same squad for the third test in a row, this should result in Jon Lewis again missing out and being named as twelth man. This will give Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood another opportunity to impress the selectors in an England shirt and get themselves further up the ladder for future selection. Matthew Hoggard in his three tests at Trent Bridge has not faired extremely well, but can he turn this round seen as he is in the form of his life?

England's batsmen will again be in the interest of securing a huge first innings total, and with Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood both fighting for one place for the future I think we could see some runs from them both. If both of them do make runs then I think the selectors are certainly going to have some difficult decisions to make for the future of the side. You would have to fancy Kevin Pietersen making some runs, another player who is in the best for of his career as of yet and you would expect him to cash in once again.

Sri Lanka's pace bowlers in the first two tests have struggled to take wickets, after the first test Lasith Malinga was brought into the side in the hope he would strike and take some wickets. Sadly the idea was there but the execution did not quite bring the results hoped for. Their twelve man squad announcement includes Nuwan Zoysa as well as Malinga, and with the batting ranks looking overflowed this suggests that both of them will play, hopefully providing some back up to Chaminda Vaas. Again, Muttiah Muralitharan will pose the main threat to England, and no doubt he will make it turn on the first ball he bowls and England will have to be on their toes every ball he bowls.

Sri Lanka have named Sanath Jayasuriya in the squad for the test, he is nearly a certainty to be opening with Michael Vandort. Which would mean that Sri Lanka have completely changed their openers from the start of the series with Jehan Mubarak and Upul Tharanga. Hopefully, the selectors have finally got the right combination, a blend of attack and solid defence which could see Sri Lanka build up their total at a good rate with someone to bat through the innings. In the second test the middle order didn't fire for Sri Lanka, no real change will be apparent other than depending on where Jayasuriya bats, Upul Tharanga could move down to three and the rest of the order would drop one.. Mahela Jayawardene will certainly be expectant to be the rock in the middle order, having failed in the second test he will certainly want to put that right in the final test.

The weather forecast is good for four of the five days, with only the third day predicted for some rainfall. No doubt that this will change but hopefully we won't see too many delays and see plenty of cricket where Sri Lanka will be fighting to draw the series and England will be looking to finish off Sri Lanka. This should be an exciting test with both teams going for victory.

[Collyisamackem]

On the Sri Lankan side of things, I feel Tharanga is Hoggy's bunny at the moment and he doesn't know how to play him, so he will be dropped, with Jayasuria coming in to open and Sangakkara staying at 3.

For England, an unchanged team is a certainty for me, so no Jon Lewis. Plunkett should take the new ball IMO, but I'm not sure if Freddie will want to relinquish it with no Harmison in the side again. Whatever they do with the bowling order, the unchanged side needs to be professional and not reckless, but as you said with Colly and Cook battling it out for a place there is enough incentive for some serious application in the batting order. Strauss is a little sort of runs in this tour also, and he seems to make at least one hundred in most series (barring Pakistan if I recall rightly), so maybe he will this time.

Monty will maybe feel that with Gilo approaching fitness again, certainly I hope (for his sake as much as the country in general) in time for the Pakistan series, his place is under threat given the batting and fielding issues that have dominated the cricket pages this week. I hope this doesn't get to him, as he will develop into a world class spinner who CAN hold a bat and more catches in the future, I believe.

With all the recent rain at Trent Bridge, maybe the ground will be damp enough to make Hoggy's latest appearance in Nottingham a better one as he could find even more movement than he already has this series. Trent Bridge does swing and he did alright against Australia last year at the ground, so I think he'll complement his outstanding form with a good show in the next few days.

As with all England games, I can't wait for the start.

My prediction for the teams:

England: Trescothick, Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Collingwood, Flintoff*, Jones+, Plunkett, Hoggard, Mahmood, Panesar.

Sri Lanka: Jayasuria, Vandort, Sangakkara+, Jayawardene*, Samaraweera, Dilshan, Maharoof, Kulasekara, Vaas, Malinga, Muralitharan.

P.S. Who is standing in this match?

[Ernest]

I think the best spinner should play - by that I mean the spinner most likely to take wickets, runs are fine so long as wickets are taken also.

I think G O Jones also comes under the spotlight in this game, he was put in the team for his batting, well if he can't get runs of this attack, then not much hope against Pakistan sooner, and Australia later.

England should win with ease, and if the top order all fires, then an unlucky Colly will be making way for Vaughan soon, however Colly was alway likely to be the chosen one.

I don't thing the series win is in any danger at all, what will be interesting is how we manage to remove the later Sri Lanka batsmen, do it with ease with both Plunkett and Mahmood doing well, then Harmisons early return is no formality, well who would make way - England have greater stringth in depth to their bowling that has ever been realised - riches indeed.

Shri Lanka will bat well in all probability, but need a good start from most of their top order, and is that happens - then who knows.
Oh and England will need to take their catches, the difference at Lords between a win, and a draw.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

[Panesar's] place is under threat given the batting and fielding issues that have dominated the cricket pages this week.

I'm afraid so. Mike Selvey in yesterday's Guardian described him as poetry in motion with the ball in his hand, and poetry also in the field - unfortunately poetry by William McGonagall. His final comment - "How traumatising to work as hard as he does and still be crap" - is harsh, but sadly true on the evidence to date.

Selvey's article here.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

With all the recent rain at Trent Bridge, maybe the ground will be damp enough to make Hoggy's latest appearance in Nottingham a better one as he could find even more movement than he already has this series.

Well, let's see. The "Pitch Watch from this morning's Guardian says:

Originally Posted by The Guardian

The driest of the pitches in this series, Trent Bridge is hard, consistently but not excessively grassed, and cracked. It should offer runs early on but there will be carry for the pace bowlers and turn for the spinners. With Muttiah Muralitharan in opposition, it is essential for England that they win the toss and bat first.

Against this, their advice on the toss has so far been disregarded twice in this series.

[FortyLicks]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

P.S. Who is standing in this match?

Umpires DB Hair and RE Koertzen
TV umpire PJ Hartley
Match referee AG Hurst
Reserve umpire NG Cowley

(cricinfo)

[greg]

Lewis to make his debut then in place of Mahmood.

Jayasuriya plays for Sri Lanka who have won the toss and decided to bat.

[John]

Come on Sri Lanka 350+

[FortyLicks]

Wow, two balls in and Hoggard is getting a shed load of swing on the ball!

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by greg

Lewis to make his debut then in place of Mahmood.

I can't understand this one. Not because of anything to do with Lewis - he has been in tremendous form this season, and if you were to pick a 'horses for courses' team then he'd definitely be in, given the conditions at Trent Bridge these days. But the selectors have made it clear they pick guys forthe long haul. that policy doesn't seem to fit in eith picking Lewis. Nevertheless, good luck to him.

... and as I write he takes a wicket in his first over!