4th Match: England v Sri Lanka (Group B)

[aussie1st]

Discussion for England's opening ICC Champions trophy game against the high flying Sri Lankans.

England (possible): 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Joe Denly, 3 Owais Shah, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Matt Prior (wk), 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Stuart Broad, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Ryan Sidebottom, 11 James Anderson.

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis.

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[piriyanth]

Stuart Broad at no.7 sounds like pretty bad idea.

He is not very reliable, at that position. Also it will put extra pressure on him.

 

[RoboRocks]

I hope Onions keeps his place over Sidebottom, who never looked threatening against Australia.

This weak England batting line-up, who played Hauritz poorly, are going to struggle like mat against Murali and Mendis. Our batsmen struggle against any type of mystery spin, let alone someone like Mendis.

 

[diaskasun]

i say 60% SL win 40% Eng win (cricket is a funny game)

 

[Howsie]

So how many wickets will Mendis take tonight? Not trying to sound anti-England but it would be nice to see them get flogged, might make the New Zealand fan's a little happier around here.

Plus if they win Sri Lanka will still need to beat us.

 

[diaskasun]

So how many wickets will Mendis take tonight? Not trying to sound anti-England but it would be nice to see them get flogged, might make the New Zealand fan's a little happier around here.

Plus if they win Sri Lanka will still need to beat us.

buddy you need to beat us as well

 

[Howsie]

Yea but if they beat England they're pretty much through. Thus meaning they don't show up with their number one team against us, and thus giving us more of a chance.

 

[diaskasun]

hmmmm yap, and dont worry, i dont think at current form,NZ will have lot of truble beating Eng... (no disrespact for my english friends including good old dutch, just that you guys dont have KP and team is not clicking for now)

 

[Dutch]

hmmmm yap, and dont worry, i dont think at current form,NZ will have lot of truble beating Eng... (no disrespact for my english friends including good old dutch, just that you guys dont have KP and team is not clicking for now)

The thing is with England that form means nothing; they could fold or they could surprise. I am keeping an open mind until I have sen them play for the first 10 or 20 overs. And as a typical English supporter who has nothing to hold on to except dreams I say; C'mon England!!!

 

[diaskasun]

The thing is with England that form means nothing; they could fold or they could surprise. I am keeping an open mind until I have sen them play for the first 10 or 20 overs. And as a typical English supporter who has nothing to hold on to except dreams I say; C'mon England!!!

good luck bro, hope we'l get a very good match !!

 

[Dutch]

good luck bro, hope we'l get a very good match !!

Very much looking forward to it. Lets hope it is a cracker and may the best team win; (Sri Lanka then!)

 

[charith]

I actually wouldn't write off England here so soon. Especially at the Bull ring where as we saw in the match with WI and Pak there was a bit of movement off the pitch and more pace. So I think it would do nicely for Anderson and co and also not forgetting our quicks. Swann's bowling beautifully from what I saw from the last ODI in England. Am being a tad harsh on Kulasekara here since he is the no. 1 ranked bowler in ODIS atm but I'd rather have Thushara in for him. He consistently bowls over 140ks and would be a better pick on a pitch with more pace and bounce and not much sideways movement. But they are using a new pitch apparently for this game and not the same one used earlier so remains to be seen how it will play.

 

[Chetan0304]

England who?

Go Sri-Lanka :banana2

 

[0601731]

The only chance england have is if the pitch is an absolute seamer like it was for pak-Wi game.

 

[aussie1st]

The seamer's pitch also means SL can't bat first post 300+ and use their spin twins to do the rest.