England v Sri Lanka, First Test - Player Reviews

England

Andrew Strauss A quiet match with the bat for the skipper as he was undone by a rare threatening ball from Lakmal. Barring one sharp drop off Swann, his slip fielding was as exemplary as ever and his captaincy equally so; allowing Bell to make his century avoided any loss of morale and a sustained attack helped gain the most unlikely of victories.

Alastair Cook Gone is the player of twelve months ago who relentlessly fiddled outside off-stump. His century was as good as chanceless and the presence he now offers at the top of the order is more reassuring than the price of Stella Artois. Took the catch that sealed the match.

Jonathan Trott Quite simply a run-scoring machine. Attracted some ridiculous criticism for his scoring rate on day four but asking Trott to change his style is like asking Status Quo if they wouldn't mind adding in a couple of extra chords to their repertoire. His average is now approaching freakish proportions. Ran out Maharoof fortuitously off his own bowling.

Kevin Pietersen Well well. KP dismissed by unheralded left-arm spinner. It isn't all that simple; even with the benefit of technology, it took five full minutes for him to be given out and the ball did keep horribly low. However, his body position and approach to this most filthy style of bowling are well out of kilter. There's no question of him losing his place - yet - but it's an issue he has to deal with quickly. In 19 out of his last 61 Test innings, it's the cursed left arm tweakers who've removed him. We're being generous here and including Xavier Doherty in that.

Ian Bell The form of his career continues with another excellently compiled century, and how nice that he was allowed to complete the job before England's declaration. If we were saying he was wasted at six in Australia - is he wasted at five now? Also cemented his reputation as one of the world's best fielders at short leg.

Eoin Morgan We learned nothing about him. He isn't great in the field, he doesn't bowl and his innings of 14 off 19 tells us little. His time to shine, or otherwise, will come.

Matt Prior Tidy behind the stumps including a sharp catch off Swann in the second innings. Didn't bat.

Stuart Broad Looked as ring-rusty as you would expect of a man who has played precious little cricket over the last six months. Improved steadily and wrapped up the tail in convincing and hostile fashion. Question marks still remain over a man who takes his wickets at around 35 apiece, but they're really for another day.

Graeme Swann The world's best spinner showed once again that even on unresponsive tracks, he offers control and a genuine wicket taking threat. At one stage he had the incredible figures of 4-0-4-4. A world class performer who will be licking his lips at the further prospect of bowling at this brittle Sri Lankan line-up.

Chris Tremlett Beginning to secure his place as a bona fide England regular. Bowled well with little luck in the first innings, but was truly devastating when Sri Lanka came out to bat what they surely would have felt would be a routine net through 51 overs. They were wrong. Is also beginning to show that he isn't just a bang it in short merchant - his fuller length, as shown with Paranavitana's second innings dismissal, is equally dangerous.

James Anderson Bowled beautifully early on but was cruelly sidelined by a minor side strain. He'll miss Lord's and most likely the Rose Bowl, not necessarily a bad thing as the important thing is to have him fit and raring to go against the Indian top order.

Sri Lanka

Tharanga Paranavitana Played a methodical innings first up against some challenging bowling from Anderson and Tremlett which indicates that he has the right temperament for Test cricket. Like so many, looked ill at ease from the off on the final day and was out for a duck, which set the tone for the eventual collapse.

Tillekeratne Dilshan A poor game for the new skipper. Threw away his wicket in the first innings when well set, then his captaincy was a litany of confusion. Mendis was barely used, he brought himself on as first change, and wasted the second new ball by bowling Herath over the wicket to the right handers. Then wasted a referral by reviewing his own dismissal in the second innings when he'd manifestly hit the ball. Big improvements required all round.

Kumar Sangakkara A modern great had a very disappointing game. Possibly unfortunate to be ruled out under the UDRS in the first innings - he almost certainly *did* hit the ball, but the supporting evidence available was flimsy. His body language in the field wasn't the best and was comprehensively undone by Swann as all around him was falling. Sri Lanka need him to return to form, quickly.

Mahela Jayawardene Still an exceptional slip fielder, but was given a real working over by first Anderson, and secondly Tremlett to be dismissed cheaply both times. Both he and Sangakkara could well be suffering from difficulties in re-adjusting to the red ball format after a prolonged IPL spell.

Thilan Samaraweera Looked composed for his 58 before falling to Anderson's first over with the second new ball, wiping out his previous dismal record in England. Clearly has talent but his attempted cut to Swann, given the match situation, was faintly ludicrous.

Prassanna Jayawardene A very well made century against testing bowling helped partially dispel the theory that he has been promoted beyond his abilities at number six. With such a long tail, Sri Lanka will need big contributions from him with the bat if they are to salvage anything from this series. Looked competent behind the stumps although little was offered in the way of chances thanks to an anodyne attack. In the second innings, suffered a similar fate to Sangakkara in the first innings - a UDRS decision that was almost certainly correct, but not necessarily arrived upon satisfactorily.

Farveez Maharoof The cult-hero of Lancashire's early season looked every inch the journeyman county pro. Little more than medium pace, poor in the field (one "slide tackle" attempt to stop a boundary was laughable) and contributed little with the bat, though he was unfortunate to be run out backing up first time around. It seemed fairly clear just why he hasn't played Test cricket for nearly four years.

Thisara Parera Willing but wicketless, Parera is the epitome of this limited and unthreatening seam attack. Could be vulnerable to the returning Dilhara Fernando at Lord's. Did at least show some resistance with the bat in both innings, which may just save him.

Rangana Herath Failed to impress in a spell at Hampshire last season and again, it was clear why. His brand of left-arm spin is most easily comparable to the phalanx of twirlers that Bangladesh habitually field, though predictably enough, he did dismiss Kevin Pietersen. Played a truly horrible shot as the second innings came towards its close.

Ajantha Mendis The "mystery spinner" is only a mystery because it's hard to work out why he was selected in the first place. Short on form in a brief spell at Somerset, he picked up the solitary wicket of injured nightwatchman Anderson and rarely turned the ball, and was used for a mere three overs on day four.

Suranga Lakmal Just a solitary wicket for the young seamer who did little to convince that he is a viable option at this level.

England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test - Day Five Review

Close of play
England 496-5d (Trott 203, Cook 133, Bell 103*)
Sri Lanka 400 and 82ao (Perera 20, Swann 4-16, Tremlett 4-40, Broad 2-21)
England win by an innings and 14 runs.

In a sentence
An unbelievable few hours saw England steal victory from the jaws of a damp squib of a draw.

Player of the day
Chris Tremlett. After yet another late start, Strauss kindly allowed Bell the two overs required in which to reach his 13th Test century. Sri Lanka were thus left with approximately 50 overs to bat through to a dull draw. Tremlett tore into the openers and had them both out before tea. After the break Swann bowled splendidly and Tremlett's bounce and movement took two further wickets to leave Sri Lanka in disarray (although the wicket of Prasanna Jayawardene caused further debate over the UDRS: he attempted to hook and the ball went through to Prior to a mass appeal; Umpire Doctrove gave him not out; England reviewed the decision and HotSpot seemed to show no evidence, but the sound and path of the ball indicated it did make contact. After a discussion between Umpires Tucker and Doctrove, the decision was overturned, however the evidence was probably not irrefutable). A late flurry of runs by Perera saw Tremlett removed from the attack, but Broad wrapped things up with some hostile fast bowling. Sri Lanka were dazed and confused, England were confident and inspired; fortune favoured the brave.

Moment of the day
The 18th over of the Sri Lankan innings. From around the wicket Swann bowled a beautifully flighted off-break that dipped and with a hint of turn took the edge of Sangakarra's bat and carried to slip. Three balls later, this time over the wicket, Swann bowled a slightly quicker ball wide of Maharoof's off stump. Despite a bold forward defence, he nicked it to the grateful Prior.



So now on to Lord's. On a day that threatened nothing but rain and a chance for batsmen to play for their averages, a monumental achievement from England and complete loss of control from Sri Lanka leaves the series looking one-sided. Nevermind five bowlers, England won this with three. Anderson will be missed at Lord's, but Finn is a capable replacement on his home turf. The tallest bowling attack ever will surely give Sri Lanka more discomfort, unless their top order knuckle down and show some focus and discipline for the duration of the match. Meanwhile England storm forward, having now won four out of their last five matches, each won by an innings.

England's Number One Number Three

As with all statistics, analysis of cricket trends and performances often needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Beyond the results, do the numbers really matter? Once the margin of victory has been printed in the record books and the trophies engraved with the special little tool by the man in the darkened room (are there female engravers? If so, please do get in touch), do the little numbers that contribute to the outcome actually mean anything? 


Sport at its best is a thing of beauty and passion; body and mind in perfect harmony. Won't calculating Michael Vaughan's average in overseas matches when batting in the middle order (1132 runs at 34.30, an average of six runs per innings fewer than John Crawley and only three more than Tim Ambrose) diminish the memory of his cover drive? With enough data, can't any argument be formed, if you manipulate the factors sufficiently? As Table 1 shows, Agit Agarkar is unequivocally a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar.

Table 1: Indian Batsmen at Lord's 1986-2011 (qualification: average more than 21.00)

Well, cricket has always been about the numbers, probably even when matches were organised in London parks and on Sussex downs solely for the purpose of wagering between aristocrats. People don't buy Wisden for photos of elegant attacking shots. Certain numbers are ingrained in the brains of cricket fans from Auckland to Antigua to Ahmedabad: 99.94, 501*, 19-90. Hell, even 51, although this generates worse memories for Englishmen than those sixteen weeks of summer 1991 when Bryan Adams was at number one in the charts.


Looking at the statistics that lie beneath the stories helps to provide the objectivity to the arguments that form any cricketing discussion. However they rarely conclude anything: they don't show that black is not white and they can't predict that England will be bowled out by Jerome Taylor. 


Furthermore, statistical analysis certainly won't prove that Bradman was better than Tendulkar (or vice-versa, if there are any Indians reading) or McGrath better than Holding. And nor should we want them to. The subjectivity of these issues relies on such qualitative matters as memory and the belief in what we see with our own eyes. A 70-year old straw hat-wearing Yorkshireman will always advocate Trueman in the same way that those who only know of Wasim and Waqar will state that they were the greatest.

Fred Trueman was pretty good apparently

But we here at 51allout enjoy our statistics. They can generate debate and highlight interesting aspects of the sport. We will leave Kevin Pietersen's performance against left-arm spinners for another day (warning: this will contain references to Ryan Hinds), but in tribute to Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott, herewith a quick look at England's problem position No.3 over the last twenty years. 

That's position No. 3 in the batting order, not problem No. 3, which is probably the back-up spinner, or if the ECB are concerned, the level of natural light before the umpires can consider discussing the possibility of having a debate about when to turn the floodlights on.

The most successful in this position, globally, have had various characteristics, whether obdurate (Dravid), fluid (Sangakarra) or just damn, frustratingly, great (Ponting). In the 1980s, Gower and Richards both batted at No. 3 regularly, but so did Boon and Gatting. Apart from scoring runs by the bucketload, the only common trait is the need to be flexible and ready.

Over the last twenty years 13 different players have batted at least 10 times at No. 3 for England. So we're discounting nightwatchmen (Fraser, Hoggard), temporary changes to the order (Gooch, Pietersen) and Jason Gallian.

The simple stats are shown in Table 2. Here it is clear that the position has been mostly held by seven different batsmen, including Trott.

Table 2: England's No.3 batsman, 1991-2011 (qualification: at least 10 innings)

Only Butcher, Vaughan and Hussain, with six apiece, have scored more 100s than Trott in this position, all of whom have played significantly more innings. The basic stats in Table 2 demonstrate Trott's success in the role. Unfortunately, this does take into account Trott's innings at Cardiff for example, which was actually scored from No.4 in the order. He also scored 69 at Centurion batting behind Anderson, with the score on 16-2 when he came to the wicket.

If the key to a good No. 3 is flexibility and adaptability, then this is evidenced by the situation in which he has scored his centuries:-

• Lord's v Bangladesh, 7-1 (followed by a partnership of 181 with Strauss);
• Lord's v Pakistan, 31-1 (soon England were 47-5, but a record-breaking partnership of 332 with Broad changed the match);
• Brisbane v Australia, 188-1 (unbeaten partnership of 329 with Cook);
• Melbourne v Australia, 159-1;
• Cardiff v Sri Lanka, 47-2 (partnership of 251 with Cook).

These would suggest that the success of the opening partnership- and indeed the batsmen following him down the order- have little bearing on his scores.

Critics could point to the series in South Africa, where he faced arguably the best pair of strike bowlers in the world in Steyn and Morkel, where his record was 190 runs at 27.14. However he did manage to score 404 runs at 67.33 against Amir and Asif, albeit at home. Perhaps he has not yet had to bat against a world-class spinner, so it will be interesting to watch him play Harbhajan later this summer.

Jonathan Trott celebrates his maiden test century in 2009

He has been involved in all three of England's 250+ partnerships in the last two years, in addition to a further 10 100-run stands. Only Hutton, Gower and Gooch have also featured in two 300+ partnerships for England. Oh, and just for the record, he averages 55.65 in ODIs, behind only ten Doeschate and Amla. 


Simply put, he's a run machine and anyone criticising the rate at which he accumulates them is welcome to have the lovely Ramprakash back in the side.

Sri Lanka's New Spin King?

“Never before Mendis has a spinner dominated Indian batsmen so comprehensively and collectively”

That was how Cricinfo reported Ajantha Mendis’ meteoric rise nearly three years ago, as he exploded onto the test match scene, taking 26 wickets in three matches as Sri Lanka beat India. Now, 13 matches later, his wicket haul has stumbled to a relatively paltry 62 and 6/117 remains Mendis’ best innings figures. We at 51allout love a good stat attack, so let’s delve into the numbers to see if we can explain this seemingly incredible fall from grace.

Perhaps the most remarkable stat is how few matches he’s actually played. By way of comparison, Graeme Swann, who made his test debut four months after Mendis, is playing his 30th test in Wales this week. If confirmation of the two countries' vastly differing priorities were needed, that’s it. Remarkably, the SWALEC Stadium is also the setting for Mendis’ first test outside of the sub-continent and thus far he has barely threatened England at all. Reports from the county game describe his short stint at Somerset in much the same way. On early-season English pitches, the lack of help from the surface has effectively reduced Mendis to a medium pace dobbler in the Paul Collingwood mould.

We can forgive him a slow start in England. He wouldn't be the first overseas spinner to struggle during these May tests that are fast becoming a tradition (England have never lost the early season mini-series), but looking at more numbers his problems would appear to go deeper than that. In five test matches outside Sri Lanka only 11 batsmen have fallen at Mendis’ hand and those have come at a rather princely 46 runs apiece. Indeed, since that extraordinary start to his career, Mendis’ figures look distinctly average – 36 wickets at a shade over 42. To put that into perspective Suliemann Benn’s career average is 41. Mediocrity has become the norm.

So why is this?

Put simply, in an age of analysts and saturation coverage, the world has worked him out. His action is unique and it's not hard to see why the Indians struggled when first presented with him, but it’s telling that a mere eight wickets have followed in three tests against that opposition since then. On top of that, Sky’s excellent piece on Mendis’ variations during Saturday's tea interval provided us with a further explanation: he makes no effort to shield his grip before delivery. On the contrary, the ball is virtually presented to the batsman as he comes in to bowl. Whilst it’s unlikely Mendis will ever re-create his unbelievable entrance onto the international stage, he would become considerably more threatening by simply covering his grip – consider how dangerous Jimmy Anderson’s reverse swing has become since he learnt to shield the ball in his run up.

A lot of pressure has been put on Mendis to replace the retired Muttiah Muralitharan, but aside from the fact their actions are both extremely unorthodox, there is little comparison to be made. Mendis looks far from a man who will cause England problems.

England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test - Day Four Review

Close of play
England 491-5 (Trott 203, Cook 133, Bell 98*)
Sri Lanka 400 (P Jayawardene 112, Anderson 3-66)

In a sentence
Easy pickings for England as Trott continued his serene progress while Sri Lanka pursued a defensive attitude, seemingly fearful of final day gremlins in the pitch.

Player of the day
One IJL Trott. A second double century for the man now homing in on a Test average of 70. Aesthetically pleasing, no, but this was attritional batting and to condemn the man, as has been seen in some media circles is as bizarre as OMC's 1996 smash hit. Looked utterly untroubled until getting himself out to Dilshan's part-time off-breaks.

Moment of the day
The slapdash fielding by Farveez Maharoof which enlivened a becalmed period of play. Slide tackles are for the football stadia a few miles down the road, lad, not trying to stop boundaries. Otherwise, it was a highly uneventful day.

Outlook for tomorrow
It's totally up to England. Batting practice or let Broad, Tremlett and Swann get some overs under their respective belts. Either way, the game is dead as a contest, which reflects badly on Cardiff as a venue, for they have now produced shirtfront pitches for each of their two Test matches. The weather forecast once again looks unhelpful so it could well be a case of seeing Eoin Morgan bat out a meaningless half-century to half-heartedly enhance his Test credentials.

England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test - Day Three Review

Close of play
England 287-2 (Cook 129*, Trott 125*)
Sri Lanka 400 (P Jayawardene 112, Anderson 3-66)

In a sentence
Trott and Cook cruised along at a gentle pace in 240 run partnership where neither player ever looked seriously troubled by a popgun attack.


Player of the day
The two headed monster that is Johnister Trook. A familiar sight to watchers of English test cricket over the last 6 months, Cook and Trott were as comfortable as a Cheshire cat spread out on a pillow in front of the fire. The runs were carefully shelved and ordered rather than piled on, but another day of obedient work at the crease from these two would be very welcome indeed in the England dressing room.


Moment of the day
The England pair took advantage of the extra pace of the new ball and the marginally more adventurous fields that accompanied it, best summed up by a powerfully succinct cover drive for 4 played by Cook off Herath in the 87th over. It was a terrific display of the command over bowling Cook now possesses and served as a warning for any who may write off the Essex opener's feats in the winter as a fluke.

Outlook for tomorrow
It's difficult to see such a moderate Sri Lanka attack dismiss England for a low enough total to create themselves a lead. Barring the weather the home side should push past 400 tomorrow - but with no Anderson in the field and more rain to come predicting anything other than a draw seems fanciful.

Numbers Stuff: Using Relative Market Share to determine 'One Man Teaminess'

Here at 51allout we love all things cricket, despite the best efforts of the IPL and the weather in Cardiff. But one thing we particularly love are the numbers. Cricket has always been a numbers game and Sky (et al) do a decent job of bringing these to life. But we can do a whole lot better than that...


Number One: Using Relative Market Share to determine 'One Man Teaminess'

Let's start at the beginning here, with a standard market share calculation. This is (like it says) just a calculation of what share of the total market someone has. We'll use a business example to get across the basics and then look at how we apply that to cricket.

In the exciting world of home console sales, two of the key markets are Japan and the United States. Here's how they might look, in terms of units sold in the last year:

Now Nintendo has a 40% share of both markets. But in the USA they're a lot more comfortable than in Japan, where Sony are close behind.

To measure this competitive position we use something called Relative Market Share. It's a pretty simple calculation:

For the market leader we use market leader sales/second place sales.
For everyone else we use company sales/market leader sales.

So in the USA Nintendo's RMS is 4.0m/1.6m = 2.5, Sony's is 1.6m/4.0m = 0.4 and Microsoft's is 1.0m/4.0m = 0.25.

In Japan Nintendo's RMS is 2.0m/1.9m = 1.05 while Sony's is 1.9m/2.0m = 0.95.

So what does this mean? Well for numbers greater than one, the greater the number the more dominant the position. For numbers less than one, the greater the number the closer to the market leader.

This sort of thing is very useful for strategic executive types, who use it to determine the marketing strategies in each market. So in the case above they might decide to move marketing dollars away from the USA (while still doing enough to try and maintain the status quo) and move them to Japan to try and aggressively improve their position, to ensure that they retain/improve their position as market leader.


Anyway, what relevance does this have to cricket? That's the fun part. Let's start by having a look at some selected teams' run scoring from this season's County Championship.























Now there's a few things to draw from this but let's start with Warwickshire, where Varun Chopra has scored 20% of the team's total runs, and Sussex, where Chris Nash has also scored 20% of the total.

In Warwickshire's case there's then a big gap to Mohammad Yousuf's 353 runs. In Sussex's case there's just a tiny gap from Nash to Ed Joyce (all of five runs behind). So it's fair to say that Warwickshire are much more of a one man team (in batting terms). So how do we quantify this? We use Relative Market Share.

So for Varun Chopra we do 726/353 = 2.06
For Chris Nash we do 656/651 = 1.01

Here the bigger the number the more 'one man teamy' a side is. In Warwickshire's case this value is very high (anything above 1.5 should probably be considered high), emphasising how dependent they are on one player. For Sussex it couldn't be much lower, emphasising how they're not dependent on one player but in fact on a number of players.

In Somerset's case Marcus Trescothick has scored a massive 28% of the total runs. But it only works out as an RMS value of 1.75 (i.e. still quite a bit below Warwickshire) because of the good form of Nick Compton.


So let's calculate this RMS for the top scorers for each county side and see what it says.

There we are then - we have a scale of 'one man teaminess', with Warwickshire, Somerset and Leicestershire at one end and Surrey, Sussex and Glamorgan at the other.

There are some other things we could look at around this - for instance, the number of players to get to a specific percentage of a team's runs - but we'll save those for another day.

Don't It Always Seem To Go, That You Don't Know What You Got Til It's Gone?

Joni Mitchell sang that. Other than her narrow-minded viewpoint on city centre car parks and allowing the awful Counting Crows to cover her material, Joni had the right idea.

Today, we saw for the first time that the retirement of Paul Collingwood could hit England harder than at first anticipated. By the end, Collingwood looked like he was batting with a toothpick. Not so much Brigadier Block as Lieutenant Leg Side Hoick. But Collingwood was not just a batsman - he was a fabulous fielder, a useful bowler and in his own understated way, a leader and a motivator. His replacement Eoin Morgan falls short on various levels here.

England's performance in the field in Sri Lanka's first innings was sloppy, not just by their own high standards as established during The Ashes, downright sloppy. It isn't Morgan's fault that Alastair Cook is not an ideal replacement at third slip. It's not Morgan's fault that Kevin Pietersen continues to be a drama queen in the field with his needless dives and wild throws back to the keeper. It isn't Morgan's fault that Andrew Strauss, worthy fielder in his own right that he is, is not a specialist slipper to Graeme Swann. But the fact remains that Morgan himself is a poor fielder. His ODI appearances, and indeed those in the IPL, have been characterised by simple dropped catches, he's not an agile man and already in this match we've seen three errors it's unlikely Collingwood would have made; two very poor run out attempts on Thursday (the first more glaring than the second) and a sharp chance offered at point today that he never looked like snaffling.

Secondly, Morgan does not bowl at all. This has left England without a recognised fill-in option in the current six batsmen/four bowlers set-up. Jonathan Trott picked up a fortuitous run-out off his own bowling today but generally his spell was way below test quality, and it's fanciful to suggest that Pietersen can become a viable option for a prolonged spell on anything but the most spin-friendly surfaces. The absence of Ravi Bopara, who has frequently bowled in excess of 20 overs an innings for Essex this season, is telling. He's not going to inspire fear in batsmen, but nor is he going to bowl 70mph long hops. The lack of a true back-up bowler could also lead to overworking of the seamers, particularly pertinent with James Anderson missing much of the final session, though he was fit enough to take on his nightwatchman duties at the close of play.

Finally, Morgan is a newcomer to the team. He doesn't seem a particularly vocal character and has limited first-class experience. One wonders how his team-mates feel about his eschewing of the county circuit in the last few weeks for the easy money of the IPL and his threats to return to India should he have not been selected for this match. Collingwood's commitment to England, despite being an IPL player, could never be questioned, and his nous and experience was often vital when trying to break a stubborn partnership.

Of course, the Irishman could crack a spectacular century, as is his wont, during England's innings and all will seem well. However, this writer will still long for a scrappy little 35 from a ginger Mackem fielding genius.

England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test - Day Two Review

Close of play
England 47-1 (Cook 24*)
Sri Lanka 400 (P Jayawardene 112, Anderson 3-66)


In a sentence
Sri Lanka are in command after making hay against a disjointed attack shorn of Jimmy Anderson for most of the day, whose series is now in doubt.


Player of the day
Prasanna Jayawardene had the confidence to take on the England bowling in the afternoon session and was rewarded with several boundaries, a Nick Knight eulogy in the commentary box and a fine century to boot.  Comfortable against Swann and rarely troubled by England's largely flat seam attack, his runs at no. 6 have gone some way to justifying the tourists' selecting five genuine bowlers.


Moment of the day
Anderson's working over of Mahela Jayawardene to start the day was swing bowling par excellence. 11 consecutive outswingers pitched up tempted the right-hander, followed by a full inducker that flummoxed the former Sri Lankan captain as he edged to second slip. But this expert piece of bowling also highlights how much England missed the Lancastrian when his strain put him out of action in the late afternoon.


Wickets

M Jayawardene c Strauss b Anderson 4 - thick edge high up the bat on an inswinger and was well taken by Strauss at second slip

Paranavitana b Tremlett 66 - dragged on flashing at a full ball pitching on off-stump


Samaraweera c Swann b Anderson 58 - angled into the body with a touch of swing and 
edged to second slip

Maharoof run out (Trott) 16 - guilty of lax backing up as Trott feathered a delivery driven 
back at him onto the stumps

Perera c Tremlett b Broad 25 - mistimed pull looped to mid-on 

Herath c Trott b Swann 25 - filthy delivery slapped straight to cover

P Jayawardene c Prior b Broad 112 - tight line and length induced a regulation edge to the 
keeper 

Lakmal c Broad b Swann 2 - excellent diving catch at mid-on to grasp a fulsome drive

*****

Strauss c M Jayawardene b Lakmal 20 -  a touch of away movement created an edge and a 

fine catch at second slip

Outlook for tomorrow

England will have to bat all day to avoid a significant deficit. The key question is whether 

Mendis and Herath can extract any venom from a benign surface, because if not a draw 

looks nailed on.

England Ladder: Test Matches

1. Strauss- Already older than both Vaughan and Atherton were when they played their last match, it is conceivable that Strauss is approaching the twilight of his career. The decision to play Tests only is a bold move, given his fantastic form recently in the 50-over version of the game, but one that it is hard to disagree with. Unlike many previous captains (Athers' bad back, MPV's knackered knee, Freddie's buggered body), Strauss has rarely - if ever - missed matches through injury. So long as that remains the case, we could see Strauss as the first name on the team sheet (both as captain and as arguably the most important batsman) for a few more years still.

2. Swann- One of the most surprising elements of the Ashes thrashing was that England had so little difficulty in bowling out the Australians with a relatively insignificant contribution from the world's leading spinner, who is perhaps best remembered for his tour diary rather than his fifteen wickets (admittedly a total not to be sniffed at, but at an average of almost 40). That is not meant to be a criticism, rather an observation, as all the pundits, whether in the press box or in the armchair, assumed a series victory would depend on Swann being the star performer. Nonetheless, he is the best spinner in the world (second in the rankings only to Steyn, for what they're worth) and an automatic pick, maybe the only automatic pick, in all forms of the game.

3. Cook- Is it really less than a year ago that his technique, his form and his place in the team was being questioned? One of the best winter tours from any England player ever has removed any doubt about him; allied with his position as vice-captain, the opening partnership with Strauss, already the highest-scoring pair for England, will surely continue for the foreseeable future. It better had, for the queue of openers ready to fill his boots is rather short. However there are question marks over how the ODI captaincy will affect his form. So long as the half-hearted, slow-footed prodded edge to slip doesn't return, he should be fine.

4. Anderson- The leader of the Test attack for a while now, his figures in Australia and last summer were incredible. If he keeps bowling as well as that, rather than his rather substandard ODI performances, then a whitewash against Sri Lanka, even with their batting order, is possible.

5. Trott- God, England supporters should all love the man who is ranked No. 4 in the world by now. Despite a dodgy winter in South Africa at the start of his career, his average of 61.53 after 18 matches puts him second only to the Don. By the end of the summer he will have played more matches than Pollock and Headley, who are third and fourth on the list of averages. It is not difficult to envisage his average remaining that high come September. How old does one have to be to remember the last time No. 3 in the English order was not a problem position?

6. Prior- He averaged 50 down under and after 40 matches, his batting average of 42.96 is higher than Gooch's and Collingwood's were at the same stage in their career (and higher than Vaughan's career average, incidentally): Prior's place in the Test team is pretty much certain. His wicket-keeping is competent enough to make The Flying Beard a candidate for the global Test team, should the Martians land with their cricket coffins. Just don't ask him to open…

7. Bell- Continues to progress. His current form and ability with the bat would have made him an England great in the lesser teams of the 1990s, but in the era of a settled batting line-up, he is still perceived to be only on the verge of transformation from having the potential to actually delivering it. The plethora of nicknames may be slightly tongue-in-cheek, but Lord Ian Ronald Bell MBE MBE MBE continues to rise.

8. Broad- Seems to have been around for years. Actually, he has been around for years. A great foil to Anderson and Swann, his fairly low position on the ladder is indicative of the current form and mood of this England side under Team Andrew (and also related to his recent run of injuries). If he gets fully fit, and stays fully fit, he's in the side, but the performances of the other seamers in the Ashes suggest he's got very healthy competition.

9. Pietersen- No longer the star of the team, it's easy to forget he averaged 60 in the Ashes and that Cook wasn't the only man to score a double hundred. Like other English players in the past with incredible self-belief, it is difficult to balance his talent with his figures, and the character with the results. He is still a huge force to be reckoned with, but KP needs a run of consistent scores over the summer and next winter to reinforce the idea that he is world-class, rather than just bloody good.

10. Bresnan- The most improved player? The most underrated player? Or a club cricketer who's got lucky? The B&Q jokes have sadly decreased in use, as Bresnan demonstrated his value to the side in Australia. A very useful squad player, who takes the 3rd seamer position in the ladder due to being perhaps better suited to an English summer than the taller bowlers. If it weren't for injury, would probably be playing in the first Test.

11. Tremlett- His absence from the Lions squad suggested that the 3rd seamer position would be between him, a fit Bresnan and Finn. Now his place in the side has been confirmed, it's good to remind people that he was a surprise selection for the Ashes. Of course he performed better than anyone could have wished for in Australia and is a very handy bowler who will surely cause the Sri Lankans and Indians problems.

12 and 13. Morgan and Bopara- Bopara can bowl a bit, Morgan can't. Bopara is scoring well in county cricket (division two) with two hundreds, Morgan was averaging 15 from 9 innings in the IPL with one fifty. Both have talent, both have yet to prove that they are the right man for the Test side. Currently Bopara should be ahead, but the final choice depended on their performance in the Lions match. Morgan's colossal innings sealed it, to the surprise of many. Nonetheless, both will need to perform consistently in all their matches this summer if they are to cement a place in the side for the next few years.

14. Finn- Outstanding figures for the start of his career, but probably lacks a bit of control and composure that is needed if he is to play regularly. It is likely that this will come in time though, so don't write him off. Also very handsome.

15. Shahzad- His swing bowling should place him above Finn in English (and Welsh) conditions, but Finn's place in the squad for the first Test shows the selectors wanted to choose two of three taller bowlers to support Anderson.

16. Davies- Should be reserve wicket-keeper, though knowing England, there's probably a dozen players challenging for this.

17. Panesar- It is difficult to assess who is back-up for Swann. Tredwell is unlikely to trouble India or Sri Lanka. The Lions squad included Patel and Briggs, neither of whom look like international bowlers at the moment. Rashid seems to have dropped off the England radar, so for now, Monty probably remains the first reserve.

18. Taylor- It is telling that only one proper opener was selected in the Lions squad (Jimmy Adams), meaning James Taylor filled that role. Allied to his strong start to the season and undoubted potential, it is judged that he is currently the next in line for a place should one of the top seven (i.e. including Morgan and Bopara) are injured.

19. Onions- With Woakes injured and Onions fit, it is the more experienced man who takes the place as 7th (seventh!) choice seamer.

20. Bairstow- His selection in the Lions squad shows he's in the selectors' thoughts.

21. Dernbach- Is not Liam Plunkett.

22. Hildreth- Lions captain with a chance of playing should Bopara and Morgan both fail.

23. Adams- Appears to have overtaken the Yorkshiremen Lyth and Gale. Possibly the back-up opener.

24. Woakes- Injured, but a stunning start to the season warrants inclusion still.

25. Mahmood- Hey, at least he's not Amjad Khan.

The Technology Debate Rumbles On

Over 18 months after its official introduction and the UDRS is still struggling to silence the doubters. Whilst it has certainly dispatched those heady days in the West Indies, when England first experienced the wonders of the system, into the annals of time, many questions remain unanswered.

There is still a grey area over how sure the TV umpire has to be to overturn the on-field call, as demonstrated by the dismissal of Kumar Sangakkara this afternoon. Rod Tucker appears to have based his decision on the fact that there was a sound which probably came from bat hitting ball, because the two were near each other. When you’ve spent millions of pounds developing a review system, that isn’t ideal. It especially isn’t ideal when you’ve explicitly said on a number of occasions that there must be clear evidence to overturn a decision.

Admittedly, the system is getting better. The worry for the ICC is the single biggest improvement they’ve made to the UDRS thus far is removing Daryl Harper from the Elite Panel. Too often they give the impression they’re making the rules up as they go along (an impression almost certainly much too close to the truth). Until Ian Bell’s farcical escape from an LBW decision at the World Cup not once had the ‘2.5 metre’ caveat been mentioned. Unfortunately, no one had bothered to read the 8 page – yes, there really is 8 pages of explanation on how to use it –booklet telling us the rules and restrictions, so no one really knows if they just sneaked that in once they realised they’d made a huge balls-up of the whole thing.

Earlier this year, on his way to a first Ashes hundred, the very same Ian Bell again benefitted from a UDRS mishap when he edged Shane Watson behind. Bell escaped because hotspot failed to show a mark. This was followed by the revelation that batsmen could fool hotspot by covering the edge of their bats with Vaseline. When your multi-million pound technology is outwitted by a small tin of lubricant, it’s probably time to take a look at yourselves.

There is no doubt that the UDRS has improved decision-making over the past year, but there are times when the whole system doesn’t help itself. There are still too many examples of basic errors. Tucker got it right today, but he got lucky, the edge was so small that it could quite easily have gone the other way. If there is no clear evidence, which there certainly wasn’t in this case, a decision surely cannot be overturned. If we go down that route then it is just adding more potential for human error when the whole point of the system is to reduce it.

England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test - Day One Review

Close of play
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat - rain prevented play until 3.30pm
Sri Lanka 133-2 (Paranavitana 58*, Dilshan 50)


In a sentence
Considering rain cut the day in half the tourists would probably have accepted 133-2 at the close, though with Sangakkara back in the hutch England won't be disappointed.

Player of the day
Newly appointed skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan was classy and composed at the crease for his half-century before limply giving his wicket away misjudging a stock Swann delivery. Scored at a good clip by exploiting Broad's lax control of line and length with a range of crisp offside play.


Moment of the day
Kumar Sangakkara falling victim to a combination of a superb delivery from Anderson and questionable umpiring from Rod Tucker up in the TV booth. Whilst it is true that there was a noise as the ball passed the edge, and indeed there was a fleck of heat on the hotspot image, to say it met the conclusive standard supposedly required to overturn a standing umpire's decision is highly debatable. As ever, the DRS debate will run on and on.


Wickets
Dilshan b Swann 50 - bottom edge into the stumps trying to cut a ball slightly too full and straight

Sangakkara c Prior b Anderson 11 - jaffa of an inswinger pitching on the stumps induced the faintest of edges (given out on review)

Outlook for tomorrow
England will have to bowl with more discipline on a slow and steady pitch to dislodge the compact Paranavitana. If the Sri Lankan left-hander can continue at his own untroubled pace and let the flashier stroke players of the two Jayawardenes and Samaraweera to kick on around him then an imposing score could be in the offing.

Welcome to 51 All Out

Welcome cricket lover/bemused interloper to 51 All Out, the new and exciting blog about cricket that will be much better than The Spin. Maybe.

Over the coming weeks our fresh and innovative (i.e. inexperienced and over ambitious) pool of authors will be hitting you in the face with cricket knowledge and analysis covering all corners of the globe. Expect to see an assortment of aesthetically wondrous if ultimately pointless graphs, vitriolic diatribes against big-boned batsman, piercing analysis that drills deep into the minutiae of just how irritating the IPL is and of course much reminiscence of those unforgettable peaks throughout cricket's grand history, such as England's incredible 2009 tour of the West Indies.

We look forward to informing and entertaining you all in the future!