Sports

Nottingham possibly the most historic and picturesque of the venues of Sri Lanka’s test matches, was readying itself to host the 3rd and final test. Famous for the story of Robin Hood the well known outlaw of the world in the 12th century, the Sherwood Forest appears to be still very much intact with its tall and the famous oak trees. The Nottingham Castle occupied by the then, law of the area the Sheriff, is now a magnificent museum carrying some brilliant paintings and tremendously rare architecture.

As for the cricket the Sri Lankans had no practice game and after an unexpected extra day of rest, the Nottingham Test was their last opportunity to draw level with the hosts, who incidentally had not lost the last nine N power series. Looking back at the series, the Lord’s test showed the fighting spirit of the Sri Lankans with the batsmen performing when it matters. However, the Birmingham Test was an absolute give away. It is very clear that the decision to bat first and the team selection left much to be desired. As a result of it England weren’t stretched and their excellent home record maintained.

The 3rd test at Trent Bridge which has the reputation for its excellent batting surfaces should give the Sri Lankans plenty of heart and should look at taking the fight to the English camp rather than just playing to save the game. It was widely expected that the Lankan line up will see a few changes and the most obvious one was the re inclusion of Sanath Jayasuriya! Some of the other changes expected were the exit of Samaraweera and Kulasekara and the possible inclusion of Kapugedeara or the retention of Tharanga and the recall of the leg spinner Malinga Bandara. Whilst the changing in the batting was made for some odd reason Tom Moody seem to have very little faith in the ability of Malinga Bandara who is a very fine leg spinner and a more than useful batsman.

Once again the Sri Lankan captain did themselves a great favour with the toss and the decision to bat first this time seem to be the correct one. But after the 2nd wicket stand was broken with a rather poor decision handed out to Sangakkara by umpire Darrel Hair, the rest of the batting was both spineless and appalling. The Sri Lankans appeared to be cruising at 84 for 2 with the sun shining brilliantly. In fairness the pitch at Trent Bridge had hardly any movement after the first hour and the likes of Hoggard and Jon Lewis was made to look so plain and pedestrian. But what happened afterwards was the most unbelievable bit of batting.

Geoff Boycott’s comments

The former England opener Geoff Boycott commenting on the Sri Lankan batting on Test Match Special commentary said “They haven’t learnt from the mistakes they made earlier. They don’t seem to be able to overcome them, repeating it every time they come to the middle. To me Chaminda Vaas seems to be the best organized player as he always gets in to line when facing both Pace and Spin” “ The top order should attempt to take a leaf out of Vaas’s book.”

I am afraid it is sad, but unfortunately a true interpretation of the Sri Lankan batting on the tour so far.

In short, another opportunity was squandered! It will be very hard to get back on even keel unless we have the strength and ability to strike back. To begin with, the first innings begged a score in excess of 300 which was definitely within the batsmen’s reach. Had that been achieved, then the bowlers would have had a good opportunity to have a go at the English batsmen and even apply some pressure.

But instead what seem to happen is a rather meek surrender followed by the dominance of the likes of Pietersen who appears to have got the measure of the Sri Lankan bowling, Muralitharan and Vaas included.