It's stumps on day one of the First Test between Sri Lanka and England in Galle. England won the toss and chose to bat, but as usual, their top order might a right mess of it. Debutant Rory Burns snicked a ball for 9, while Jennings (46), Ali (0), Root (35) and Stokes (7) were all bowled. Jennings showed application, but the bottom line is that England were 103/5 and in big trouble. Fortunately another debutant Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper, as Bairstow is injured and Buttler has sore hands) came in and played nicely for 87, with England finishing the day on 321/8.
A debut century for Ben Foakes, a century for the under-fire Keaton Jennings and a lead of 382 with four wickets in hand. Sri Lanka will have to chase a mammoth score in the last innings - only the weather can stop us winning now.
England won by 211 runs. Their first ever win in Galle. Can't see Bairstow coming back into the team for now.
Another win, closer this time (57?)
I thought the SL’s would do it when they had about 100 to get with many wickets in hand. Record haul for spinners in a test match, I think they said. Speaks volumes for the conditions.
England have won the Third Test to seal an astonishing 0-3 whitewash in Sri Lanka, who were chasing 327 to win, but quickly found themselves 59-4 at the end of play yesterday. England started today expecting to bowl out Sri Lanka's remaining six wickets quickly, but it didn't work out that way, with a big middle order partnership. Eventually it was broken and England had only one wicket to take, but they reckoned without tailender Pushpakumara who kept smashing the ball to the boundary and taking them within 42 runs of victory. Fortunately, after the teabreak Jack Leach came out and finished the job.
Meanwhile in the UAE, NZ were shockingly bowled out for 90 in the Second Test against Pakistan. Spinner Yasir Shah finished with 8-41 in a devastating 12 over spell as NZ slid from 50 without loss to lose all 10 wickets for 40 more runs in 35 overs. NZ are following on and have made a better fist of it, currently at 126/2 (both wickets going to Shah again).
Time for the return of mine and Tall Guy's favourite thread (we're the only ones who ever post in it). So what's happened since November? For the first time India won a Test series in Australia, playing some very weak opposition. While the Australian batting fails were predictable, it was a surprise that India outbowled Australia's much vaunted pace attack. They could not get the ball to swing. India's no. 3 Pujara was man of the series, and put them to the sword with three centuries. Australia looked really poor and they have a home series against Sri Lanka before Steve Smith and David Warner return from their 12 month bans.
Pakistan surprisingly lost a home series in the UAE thanks to NZ opener Tom Latham's heroics. Then they went to South Africa and were whitewashed 3-0. Looks a majorly unhappy camp under Mickey Arthur atm, with captain and bowlers not on the best of terms, and weak batting.
Today England resume Test cricket after a two month break, with a tour of the West Indies. The first Test begins at 2pm UK time. I'm hoping the selectors finally choose my dream lineup of Stokes, Foakes and Woakes in the eleven.
It's a pressure filled year with a home World Cup in June and then the Ashes straight after.
England only have this series and a Lords test against Ireland before the ashes, so the pressure is on some players to secure their places. Mainly the top order, from what I've seen so far Burns and Jennings haven't been convincing. And Bairstow should continue at No 3 as he's unlikely to regain the wkt spot. Could be interesting, may not be straightforward against the windies on their slow pitches.
Stumps on day one of the first Test. The Windies won the toss and chose to bat. By tea they were 240/4 and and all was going well for them. But after the break, Jimmy Anderson had other ideas. He'd already bowled 14 overs and conceded only 14 runs, and using the second new ball he struck to end the day with 4/33, and the opposition reduced to 268/8. Good old calypso collapso. Ben Stokes chipped in with three important wickets as well.
There were problems though: Sam Curran proved he is no opening bowler, and dropping Broad was a mistake. Broad will be back for the Second Test, no doubt.
Can England bat well tomorrow? They'll need to against that West Indies pace attack.
And it got worse. England didn't take a single wicket ALL DAY. The WI captain scored his maiden double ton and declared with a lead of 627. That's right, 627.
England are 56/0 at the close. The last two days have been an absolute horror show.
Stuart Broad will be in the team for the Second Test. It will probably be a road that won't favour his bowling.
Well that was a right thumping and no mistake. Beaten by 381 runs, and with a horrible collapse at the end, all to a part-time spinner, who now has better figures than Shane Warne. None of the balls turned, and England couldn't cope with it. Alarming. An inauspicious start to a pressure-filled year.
Talk Sport this morning mentioned that the England team were averaging about 16 runs per wicket, the worst since the 1880s!
It just doesn't look good. We've got one more Test this series, and the inaugural Test against Ireland in six months, to sort out our problems. Then it's the Ashes.
Australia meanwhile have just got completed a thumping of Sri Lanka down under, with four centuries from Joe Burns, Travis Head, new star Kurtis Patterson (look out for him this summer) and Usman Khawaja. Granted, the opposition isn't up to much, but they're in much better shape than we are at the moment.
