The Village Cricketer » Sri Lanka cricket

Hypocritical Kiwis get hot under collar

thevillagecricketer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:21:20 +0000

Great match today, but a real shame the Kiwis won. There was a great deal of fuss about the run-out of Grant Elliott, who collided with Sidebottom going for a quick single. You can read about that on Cricinfo.

The Kiwis got all self-righteous, jumping up and down about the “spirit of cricket”, and kicking up a real stink. Daniel Vettori was apologetic about his team’s behaviour, after Collingwood said he may have made a mistake not calling Elliott back. I’m not sure Vettori would have been diplomatic had his side lost.

What got me though, was that it was not long ago that the Kiwis were completely unapologetic when Brendon McCullum ran out Muralitharan when he left his ground to congratulate Kumar Sangakkara on making a hundred. On that occasion Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming said he was happy with McCullum’s actions. It is somewhat hypocritical for them to kick up so much fuss about today’s happenings.

Seems like one-way-streets exist on both sides of the Tasman Sea.

The offending event:

Oh dear…

thevillagecricketer — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:27:56 +0000

I was going to use the word poor. Cricinfo however has got closer to the mark with pathetic. England have been bowled out for 81 after Sri Lanka posted the best part of 500. Shocking.

I feel slightly numb.

Bat for a day to save the match

thevillagecricketer — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:21:16 +0000

I’ve been to Kandy. Nice enough place, but for the fact that on the tour of Sri Lanka I was doing – which coincided with the final test of the 2005 Ashes series - the hotel we stayed at didn’t have Star TV Asia, which meant I missed out on seeing any of days 3 and 4 of England’s triumphant draw. Anyhow, I did see some Sri Lankan dancing, visited the Temple of the Tooth, some botanical gardens and (particlarly impressively) picked up a made-to-measure pure silk suit (fashioned overnight to my specifications) for less than £70.

Now, I am guessing that Alistair Cook doesn’t share my generally positive view of the place, as he managed to be dismissed in the first over of each innings and to deflect a Jayasuria smash into his face. Ian Bell, who at least scored runs in the first innings, may also be having affection issues with Kandy, as his dropped catch off Sangakkara meansthat Sri Lanka have been able to post a (seemingly) unchaseable total.

Despite Murali’s record braking, it seems as though Sangakkara may be difference in this match. England have to bat through day 5 for a draw. It’ll take an almight effort to do that.

Murali celebrates, TVC contemplates

thevillagecricketer — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:46:10 +0000

First up, big congrats to Muttiah Muralitharan for retaining the most test wickets record. Am sure there will be plenty said by Australian correspondents to diminish this achievement, and I look forward to a “chucker” versus the “drug cheat” discussion at a later stage. For the record, TVC has no issues with Murali’s bowling action, or the fact that Shane Warne took a banned diuretic to aid his recovery from a shoulder injury.

However, TVC is a touch concerned about how the Test in Kandy is shaping up. Should Sri Lanka post England anything more than 200 to chase in the final innings we could be struggling.

Winter prospects

thevillagecricketer — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:05:43 +0000

Apologies to regular readers for the lack of posts recently, I am afraid that with England not in action, and the rather obvious nature of what cricket has been played, I have been less than inspired to commit fingers to keyboard.
However, things are on the up. Am excited about the prospect of the England v Sri Lanka test series, particularly as England need to start re-establishing its test credentials.
Was delighted that Matthew Hoggard has performed well in the warm-ups and that most of the batsmen have had some time in the middle.
Given how poor the Kiwis were in South Africa recently, I would expect us to win that series, however Sri Lanka will be the big challenge. Murali will once again be the deciding factor. Nullify him and England could enjoy a very good winter indeed.

Something like a phenomenon

thevillagecricketer — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:56:25 +0000

As Bumble says, it is very very difficult to win a series in Sri Lanka, especially after losing the first match. England have never won a series in Sri Lanka before. And now England has beaten the World Cup runners-up in their own backyard. The first time in twenty years England have won a major one day series on the sub-continent. Phenomenal.

Kevin Pietersen, poor in the series so far, scored 63 not out (big match player, not a bad thing), and man-of-the-match Alistair Cook 80, to see England home after England’s bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to an underpar score. Jayawardene praised England’s bowling up front, big praise is due to Sidebottom, Broad and Anderson, who have kept Sri Lanka’s top four completely under wraps all series.

“Everybody’s put a lot of hard work and effort into winning,” said Collingwood. “A special mention to the bowlers today, a great effort. All the boys have been superb from day one.”

Andrew Miller in Cricinfo has written an excellent summary.

Swann another spin character

thevillagecricketer — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:40:44 +0000

Tremendous, England have beaten Sri Lanka in another ODI and now lead the series 2-1. Who’d have thought that Graeme Swann would be providing the star turn? A decent bowler, tidy batsmen and real character, Swann could well be bowling himself into a chance of playing some test cricket at some stage, especially given the weakness in England’s batting of late. It may only happen should England play two spinners and it’d be great to see him bowling in tandem with Monty.

Chokers out and Canary’s fly through

thevillagecricketer — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:00:29 +0000

Its a funny old game. In a little over 24 hours England’s bright young hope with the ball was being pumelled for the first set of six sixes against a major international side, by an Indian side that looked like they’d be joining England on the plane out. Just over a day later and it is the Saffas that are using the exit door and taking an early trip to Maverick’s. The perpetual chokers lived up to their tag and capitulated against the Indians. Sri Lanka also crashed out, after being boshed by the Canary Yellows. This is a great tournament.

England show promise, but regular problems resurface

thevillagecricketer — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:19:15 +0000

I once played against Ravi Bopara in an Evening Standard cup game at Barnes. He was at that stage breaking through Essex CC’s 2nd XI. He made a low score, caught down the leg side, but Hainault & Clayhall Cricket Club still racked up nearly 300 (short boundaries at Barnes) and we replied with 180ish. I, like Ravi, made a low score

Last night, Ravi – obviously much the better player after his trip to SW13 – was the star turn in a World Cup match against Sri Lanka that England should have won. England bowled well and fielded well, but we did not bat well enough as a unit. KP was excellent before becoming overly ambitious against Murali. Bopara and Nixon (what a reverse sweep by the way!) were top drawer, and almost rescued what had become a lost cause.

It is difficult to know whether to blame anyone. Vaughan was unlucky, Bell perhaps even more so, and I am not qualified to comment on the dismissals of Flintoff, Collingwood and Joyce. I am desperate for England to perform well, however the top order has to start scoring big runs, and not leave all the runs (and extra pressure) to the likes of Pietersen and Collingwood, who will not rescue England every time. Mind you, it would have been interesting to see what a great finisher like Michael Bevan would have done in Pietersen’s shoes though. One would assume he would have seen Murali off and not sought to finish the game quite so quickly.

I will be intrigued to see whether Strauss gets drafted in – he performed well in the Windies last time, although not quite so well in Australia. He may be an option for Joyce – who needs to regain the aggression he displayed in against the top sides in Australia – however it is Vaughan’s form with the bat that is a major worry. Vaughan has not passed 50 in ODIs since 7 July 2005.

Finally, here’s a thing. StatsGuru from Cricinfo reveals that in the 18 ODI games in which Vaughan has opened the batting, he averages 16.11 and has passed fifty only once. Batting at three (44 times), he averages 32.66 and has passed 50 on 11 occasions. Oh for Mal Loye.

Its a fine old time

thevillagecricketer — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:23:07 +0000

The West Indies have been fined for a slow over-rate during their during their 113-run defeat against Sri Lanka. Match referee Jeff Crowe, who has previous in this tournament, imposed the fines after Brian Lara’s side was ruled two overs short of its target at the scheduled finish of the Sri Lanka innings. As such, Lara has been fined 20 percent of his match fee while his players have each received 10 percent fines.

Now, this got me thinking. On this summer’s Keele Reefer Association tour to Devon, players will be fined for certain misdemeanors (although a slow over rate will probably not be amongst them) and I think it wise to get some opinion on fineable offences and the going rate. For example:

Dropped catch = £2
Scoring less than 10 runs in an innings = £1
A duck = £2
Village behaviour (click here for possible offences) = £2

I am keen to get your thoughts on this. Please leave your comments in the usual place.