World Test Championship 2021-23 : West Indies tour Sri Lanka [ 2 test ]

Eyes will be on Charith Asalanka , Sri Lanka's new born star at the T20 World Cup, as he is most likely to make debut in Test cricket

slcricfan1 Why no Hasaranga in Test Squad ?

Rajkumar Sharma wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 3:51 am

slcricfan1 Why no Hasaranga in Test Squad ?

Same problem as most other loi leggies. Not that penetrative and goes for a little too many runs even in first class. However he could still be a better all rounder than Ramesh Mendis. I support Hasaranga being out though, should keep focusing on loi exploits. As for Asalanka, the Lankan batting team looks pretty stacked right now especially with Thirimanne opting out and anyway his first class stats arent the best. Again I support Asalanka focusing on odi and t20 only. I`m a big fan of the horses for courses strategy

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 12:40 pm

I think Hasaranga can make it to the test squad.

Was pleasantly surprised to see Angelo Mathews back in the team, shame he didn't got as many runs, hope he comes good.

WI has severe problems, their team just doesn't look up to test cricket standards. For a team that produced Lara, Richards, Lloyd, Chanderpaul this is a terrible shame. I dare say this is the lowest I've seen WI ever...

Na theyve been worse lineups in the last few years. It's just that Galle is hard for touring sides, especially for the WIndies. At home they would put up a good fight

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:49 pm

slcricfan1 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:26 pm

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 12:40 pm

I think Hasaranga can make it to the test squad.

Was pleasantly surprised to see Angelo Mathews back in the team, shame he didn't got as many runs, hope he comes good.

WI has severe problems, their team just doesn't look up to test cricket standards. For a team that produced Lara, Richards, Lloyd, Chanderpaul this is a terrible shame. I dare say this is the lowest I've seen WI ever...

Na theyve been worse lineups in the last few years. It's just that Galle is hard for touring sides, especially for the WIndies. At home they would put up a good fight

Not just this game mate, they are getting bundled out for 150-160 almost every innings these days.

For last 5-6 years it is found that Windies starts batting in test matches, after the fall of 5 or 6 wickets with Holder in one end. There first four - five batters are average and never gets dropped, it seems they maintain reservation of players from all the islands. They have dropped Darren Bravo who has more experience then currrent players in subcontinent conditions.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:49 pm

slcricfan1 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:26 pm

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 12:40 pm

I think Hasaranga can make it to the test squad.

Was pleasantly surprised to see Angelo Mathews back in the team, shame he didn't got as many runs, hope he comes good.

WI has severe problems, their team just doesn't look up to test cricket standards. For a team that produced Lara, Richards, Lloyd, Chanderpaul this is a terrible shame. I dare say this is the lowest I've seen WI ever...

Na theyve been worse lineups in the last few years. It's just that Galle is hard for touring sides, especially for the WIndies. At home they would put up a good fight

Not just this game mate, they are getting bundled out for 150-160 almost every innings these days.

Yeah you`re right batting is consistently pretty bad but better than when they had blokes like Chandrika etc. Bowling is much better than around 2015 too

Praveen Jayawickrama, left arm spinner looks good find for Sri Lanka, getting wickets not only against non asian teams but also against asian teams, who are good against spin.

Rajkumar Sharma wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 5:39 am

Praveen Jayawickrama, left arm spinner looks good find for Sri Lanka, getting wickets not only against non asian teams but also against asian teams, who are good against spin.

Bangladesh and the West Indies dont mean too much tbh. No offence Kriterion. Maybe BD actually but stll wanna see these guys against India

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:22 pm

WI were 18/6 at one stage.

If smaller teams (Ban, Ire, Zim, Afg) perform like this their test status gets questioned and no one wants to play them, but what exactly does WI bring to the table here?

Not many teams left to play competitive test cricket.

Only way this could be resolved, is by changing the 22 yards. With ICC taking the responsibility of the 22 yards and making green tops, seam, swing friendly in subcontinent and slow, spin friendly in SENA countries, which can make the test matches exciting, else team playing at home will prepare track based on their strength and make the test match look dull and raise question about this test championship format.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:22 pm

WI were 18/6 at one stage.

If smaller teams (Ban, Ire, Zim, Afg) perform like this their test status gets questioned and no one wants to play them, but what exactly does WI bring to the table here?

Not many teams left to play competitive test cricket.

TBF the Windies arent a pushover at home. Got a pretty world calss fast bowling lineup. Just that literally every other department is screwed.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:26 pm

Rajkumar Sharma wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 2:47 pm

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:22 pm

WI were 18/6 at one stage.

If smaller teams (Ban, Ire, Zim, Afg) perform like this their test status gets questioned and no one wants to play them, but what exactly does WI bring to the table here?

Not many teams left to play competitive test cricket.

Only way this could be resolved, is by changing the 22 yards. With ICC taking the responsibility of the 22 yards and making green tops, seam, swing friendly in subcontinent and slow, spin friendly in SENA countries, which can make the test matches exciting, else team playing at home will prepare track based on their strength and make the test match look dull and raise question about this test championship format.

I don't agree on that. Home conditions advantage is fair enough. SLN have batted well on the same track. It is just that we no longer have competitive teams. Do you think Lara, Chanderpaul, Sarwan would have capitulated in this manner? Might have lost, but not like this.

SLN in turn will likely get a hiding from India, ENG, Australia, we saw that earlier in the year when England won the series in Sri Lanka with Root scoring tons of runs.

Truth is that test cricket is going to die out due to lack of competition. The big 3 teams keep playing each other in a loop, there is very little commercial aspect for test cricket to be taken seriously by mid and lower ranked teams. There isn't anything ICC is doing to protect the game and make it more competitive.

In the past I remember every test playing nation toured the other once every 4 years for a proper test and ODI series. Full strength teams, Players always played with pride and passion for their country, I never saw Glenn McGrath ever asking for rest, never saw Muralitharan taking a break even after bowling 300 overs in a series... Most importantly cricket was so competitive.

It all got lost somewhere.

England didnt give us a hiding. Only root batted well but yeah get your point. Just seems like with professionalism, the money seems to really have a big impact on a country`s cricket compared to a decade or two ago

WICB has done nothing for the development of their game. Previously it was player strike due to contract now there is a huge lack of interest in their current and upcomming players in paying longest format. WI two T20 world cup wins under Sammy, followed their fearless approach in playing T20 cricket has raised their demand in franchise cricket. It was Dave Cameron under whom, WI cricket turned worst where he had fights with their star players as a result WI Cricket didnt get their good service quite few year. With more earnings with bowling 4 overs and batting 20 overs, their approach to test & odi has been diminishing. Say Andre Russell or a Hetmyer both started as test cricketer, now they are least interested even in odis and prefer franchise T20 leagues, such kind of mindset is affecting the minds of their new talented players like Pooran, Rutherford who simply doesnt want to represent Windies in Test.

Moreover after retirement of Lara, Sarwan, Chandrapaul, not a single Windies player looked to have that potential of scoring big consistently or make the batsman look fear in form of Walsh or Ambrose. Windies used to have a factory of 150+ kph fast bowlers who used to terrorize the opposition with some class in the batting, who had the skill of batting whole day making those dady hundreds.Now they are developing 120-130 kph pacers bowling cutters and slowers for T20s. Though few wins they got at home but its the T20 cricket that have hurt Windies and killing the test cricket culture with board doing nothing. At modern day performance matters, if you dont beat top teams or trouble them, they will have no interest in playing with you siting broadcaster money and intrerest of crowds. Big 3s will love to play WI in T20 Series with tough competition, with full crowd in stadium cheering for them then a Test or Odi in empty stadium where the matches are pretty one sided. When it comes to bottom 3, Bangladeshi players culture are quite similar to WI, loves to play shorter format then tests. Zim test cricket is weak for 2 decade now, they are producing top class skills but the board have failed to keep those talents in the country due to poor administration, remaining players in Zim are average as a result they are struggling. Afghans and Irish are too new in test hence its hard to comment on them.

5 wickets in just 39 runs. Massive Collapse of Sri Lanka's batting.

Seems a square turner at Galle. Result of the game might be within 3rd day

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:11 am

slcricfan1 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:46 am

Bangladesh and the West Indies dont mean too much tbh. No offence Kriterion. Maybe BD actually but stll wanna see these guys against India

He's a good find. To be honest, I never rated Herath and he generally struggled against BD - or at least had a lot of expensive spells on flat pitches. I think Jayawickrama looks to be a much better SLA than Herath.

Yeah dont know how he got his wickets but I mean he did get them lol. Jayawickrama does look much better but he has to fix up his line and length a little bit more

Jayawickrama & Embuldeniya had made Sri Lanka forgot Lakshan Sandakan who had impressive stats. Its quite surprise that all available chinaman bowlers are getting faded away who were most talked about in 2-3 years ago