Can I just check what you’re actually proposing though? Is it a 450 over match (i.e. 90 overs get bowled per day come what may and any overspill goes not a 6th or 7th day? Or are you proposing timeless Tests?)?
Because I could sort of get behind the former but not the latter. Batting out for a draw can be just as exciting as going for a victory. Indeed, if SL go 9 down today and have 10 overs to bat out, it will be really exciting. I wouldn’t want to get rid of that from the game.
The thing that drives this (the 5 days only, weather be damned), apart from tradition, is almost certainly money in some way, though I can only speculate as to what the argument against would be - since no one is proposing it apart from in this thread. I wouldn’t be surprised if TV said “we can’t spare resources for an indeterminate length of time to cover this”. That and the knock on effect that losing 3 days of a game in Test 1 might have on the remainder of a tour.
Especially when they play tests “back to back” now. I’m not sure how much of an issue it is anymore, to be honest, this is the first game in England from the last 8 to actually go into a 5th day, never mind go for a draw.
In the last 10 years, there have been 102 draws in Test cricket, from a total of 399, so about a quarter of total Test matches are draws. In the 1980s, there were 122 draws from 266 - nearly half. Good drainage on grounds and faster scoring have gone a long way to solving the issue.
I don’t think you’re ever going to get to a state where there aren’t draws anymore until we’re controlling the weather.
Definitely the former - I agree the latter wouldn’t work. But if the basic idea is that 450 overs (and we’ll pretend for now that 450 overs is what we get in good weather) defines the amount of play needed for a genuine contest, the aim should be to stick to that as far as possible.
They made a good effort at Lord’s on Sunday - play went on to 7.15 ish as they finished off the allotted overs for the sessions played. That’s great. But as well as adding on to the end of the day when one session is lost, why not be prepared to add a day when 2.5 sessions go missing? There would have to be some threshold - I’m not suggesting that every last lost over be accounted for - but there comes a point where the weather has ceased to add a tactical dimension and just got in the way of us having the match we all want to see. I can’t imagine England, Sri Lanka, the audience or the broadcasters were particularly happy with the washout yesterday.
So: if you lose two or three whole sessions due to weather, you extend the match a day to play them out. I’d say “two or more” but there’s only so much time available for extension.
Pretty odd 1st ODI has just finished. SL have England needing 10 off the last two deliveries. England run 3 off the penultimate ball, as the Sri Lankans seems to start celebrating a little prematurely. Liam Plunkett then heaves a 6 back over the bowler’s head off the final delivery. Match tied.
Given England were something like 80-6 at one point, chasing the neck end of 290, this was not the Sri Lankans’ finest hour, it has to be said.
Nice little knock from Jason Roy to secure the ODI series - SL haven’t had a lot of luck on this tour. In this game, their innings was interrupted by rain which caused it to lose some momentum, then they come across a batsman in form on his home ground who couldn’t do anything wrong.
If Roy can carry this over into longer formats, we might manage to build a decent Test lineup.
As a regular down The Oval, I would be very surprised if Roy manages to make it at Test level - principally because he would have to play down the order as a thrasher and I think he’d be behind Buttler, at least, in that regard. When he goes off, he’s good but not as good as Buttler. Think his long term future is getting an IPL contract and being a limited overs specialist.
No real denying the form he’s in. Think Sri Lanka not the sternest test with the ball either though - and The Oval seems to be pretty road like this year too. They might have cleared 400 last night if there had been a full 50 overs and England had batted first. In this respect, think some of his knocks back in the T20 World Cup were a little better.
Hales has shown some ability to restrain himself and play a different game for the Test matches. It’s a tough road to follow, but Roy is technically capable, I think, it’s whether he can mentally change gears.
I think that’s exactly right and also, pretty much exactly, my point. I’ve not really seen any evidence that Roy is capable of those mental gear changes in my time watching him over the last couple of years in 4 day cricket. Particularly this year, as Surrey have struggled with the step up to Div 1, there have been a number of times when he’s come in at 5 with the team needing a good, long, consolidating knock to get them out of a hole - and he’s played precious few of them (Ben Foakes seems to keep coming in at 150-4 and having to bail like hell to get Surrey to 300) - and even when he has scored runs, he’s tended to do so quickly. Quick scoring isn’t necessarily a problem but it does seem to me to show that he’s not someone who would be best suited to opening the batting unless paired with someone who does do that. That’s why I think he would need to play down the order - but I still think there are better options than him.
This is not to denigrate him in any way. In honesty, having a few guys to form the back bone of the limited overs team, who don’t have to play Test cricket, may well be the way forward for us in trying to improve our results, particularly in the ODI world cup. He’s going to be key for some time I think.
Final ODI, England finish on 324. A couple of years ago, I’d have been seriously impressed with a fairly impregnable total, but I do think this is now well within Sri Lanka’s grasp.
Sri Lanka have been demoralised on this tour I think. It’s difficult winning away from home but they’ve got nothing out of this, except for a couple of wins in Ireland and maybe one or two against county sides I think, and they really look like they want to go home. And I don’t really blame them. There’s some players knocking around in there who have potential (Mendis in particular looks like he could be pretty decent in the fullness of time) but they’re going to need to find some decent bowlers sooner rather than later - though I suspect that they’ll be a better proposition in conditions that are not so different to the rest of world cricket as you generally find up here in May and June.
Pakistan likely to be a much sterner test. If Mo Amir is anywhere near where he was before his ban, he’s going to have a good time up here and their spinners are likely better than anything we’ve seen in England for a good while (possible exception made for Nathan Lyon, whose record is good enough against us). This England side can be got at - too often subsiding to low 100s for 4 and relying on one of Bairstow, Root or Stokes to bail them out with the bat - and whilst the seam up bowling is strong, and seems to be developing nicely with Woakes finding form, Mo needs to start looking more threatening or I can see him being chucked out for Rashid halfway through the Pakistan series. We’ll see whether Pakistan can apply enough pressure in due course. Tests start a week on Thursday.
Pakistan currently playing Somerset and doing reasonably well. Scoring at 3.5 an over yesterday, with Younis one shy of a ton, Shan Masood getting 62 and Asad Shafiq getting 80. A good start for the first game on tour.
Mo Amr has taken three wickets. They’re all essentially unplayable. Whether you agree with him being back in cricket or not, the lad can bowl. The England top order needs to be on its mettle.
While Butt and Asif should never see a cricket field again, Amir’s banning was a travesty. he should have gotten no more than a few months.
Its our batting I am worried about. Misbah has never played in England (he was not picked in 2006 and 2010, and for the later that’s why he became Captain) and Younis has a lousy record there.
The main man is Yasir Shah. This tour decides whether or not he is a class act like Qadir or more a Mushtaq type bowler, who was only good in Sub continental conditions.
And the final game of the Sri Lanka series comes to an end, with Morgan smacking a six over deep midwicket with 15 balls to spare.
It’s worth pointing out, I think, that Sri Lanka won both the ODI and Test series a mere two years ago, but they have suffered from some star batsmen retiring. England haven’t solved all their problems, though - in particular, the test match batting line up is problematic, and we’ll have to see how we fair against Pakistan. Not long to wait either, first game starts on the 14th!