Sri Lanka A - England A Second Test - Nondescripts Sports Ground.

[Andy Mellon]

Second day of the second A test in Sri Lanka. Interesting scoreboards compared to the first test:

Sri Lanka 145 all out (Bell 4-18)
England 157 all out (Shah 50, Rikki Clarke 1 run off 30 balls, Bandara 8-49)
Sri Lanka 173-5 (Kalavitigoda 83, Bell 2-18)

Seems to be a bit of a different game to the last test - lower scores and Bell getting 6 wickets so far!

The most interesting point to me is the England batting order:

Solanki, Cook, Bell, Shah, Powell, Clarke, Dawson, Prior, Swann, Franks, Mahmood

That must be one of the deepest batting orders an England team have ever had. I'm guessing that Dawson was night watchman and should have been in at 10, but still - Franks at 9 is pretty impressive and Mahmood is no slouch. I'm still wondering what Gidman did wrong to get dropped in favour of Franks. Its clear that Clarke should have been dropped if anyone. Another disappointing performance from him so far, 2 wickets for 43 runs in addition to his 1 run in England's first innings is pretty poor.

[Paoli]

"Rampaging" Rikki Clarke on absolute fire!!!! 1 off 30 balls this world beater!!!

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

I'm still wondering what Gidman did wrong to get dropped in favour of Franks. Its clear that Clarke should have been dropped if anyone. Another disappointing performance from him so far, 2 wickets for 43 runs in addition to his 1 run in England's first innings is pretty poor.

Looks like Rikki Clarke is playing himself out of England recogntion for good here!

I dont think Gidman did anything wrong, just a case of them wanting everyone to play in at least one of the two four day matches. Also looks like he's missing the right match!! It's interesting to see Swann and Dawson together, Swann's been getting more bowling so far.

[Paoli]

I've seen Paul Franks once, and he didn't look that good (Against Windies in 2000 i think)...I don't think he has played internationally since, but there are alot of things to be taken from the tour...Bell is going to play Tests for England, Owais Shah is on the rebound, Matt Prior is a more than handy wicket keeper, and that Rikki Clarke is going to the scrapheap for some time!!!

[Notts Exile]

Bell is a class act. I wouldn't be fooled by his bowling though, he's useful but not much more than that. He should still be behind KP in the queue for the summer however.

Prior has apparently been keeping well. Wonder if Chris Read might be dropping down to our number three choice?

Franks is useful. He's a bit like Kabir Ali in that he's probably more likely to make it in the One Day side than the Test team. Judging him by his one and only one day match would be harsh - Saj Mahmood would have been consigned to the dustbin had that been the case with him too!

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Is KP ahead of bell ? I dont know really. Bell can offer (IMHO) a calmer, maybe more defensive mindset which would be handy at 3, yet how can you discount peitersens superb efforts against SA ? And there aint room for both unless thorpe scores a ton in the second innings of in the 1st test and england and he promptly does a "Nas". Still not cut and dried.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Is KP ahead of bell ? I dont know really. Bell can offer (IMHO) a calmer, maybe more defensive mindset which would be handy at 3, yet how can you discount peitersens superb efforts against SA ?

I don't believe we can beat Australia by going defensive. It's players like KP, Freddie, Tresco and Vaughan who by attacking will provide the impetus we need.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Oh I agree we wont win it by picking mark richardson clones from 1 to 6, but I'd like to see bat in there who isnt as cavalair. Thing is I like KPs attitude. He's (and i mean this in the nicest possible way) an arrogant bastrd who revelled in whole stadiums of his countrymen booing him. If he can get in and stay he'll try damn hard to beat the aussies at their own game. Hopefully he wont go too far the other way and be a bit tino best. Nice problem to have though !

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Oh I agree we wont win it by picking mark richardson clones from 1 to 6, but I'd like to see bat in there who isnt as cavalair. Thing is I like KPs attitude. He's (and i mean this in the nicest possible way) an arrogant bastrd who revelled in whole stadiums of his countrymen booing him. If he can get in and stay he'll try damn hard to beat the aussies at their own game. Hopefully he wont go too far the other way and be a bit tino best. Nice problem to have though !

Very true. I think we saw enough of his ability to build an innings to suggest he won't go in all guns blazing. He'll make sure he's in and then take them apart!!

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by RBLC

Is KP ahead of bell ? I dont know really. Bell can offer (IMHO) a calmer, maybe more defensive mindset which would be handy at 3, yet how can you discount peitersens superb efforts against SA ?

And how possibly can a discussion about Bam Bam go by without me mentioning that he's got the worst hair thinkable (which ironically might actually be something of a boast to his chances of making in the Ashes team ... the Aussies could be distracted by the hair and bowl rubbish - Dizzy might actually fall in love with his hair and forget to bowl completely!