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Cricket

philjo

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Is the England v Sri Lanka series on BBC or talksport? Hopefully the former!

Steve Smith: World class player. International sh*thouse? Discuss.
BBC TMS commentary, though they are commentating from 6 locations across the UK as they were not permitted to fly to Sri Lanka.
 
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SteveM70

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Is the England v Sri Lanka series on BBC or talksport? Hopefully the former!

Steve Smith: World class player. International sh*thouse? Discuss.

Steve Smith - undoubted world class player. Having read a fair bit about the sandpaper episode I’d say he was immature and unsuited to the captaincy, and easily led especially by Warner. More widely, looking at him and his idiosyncrasies part of me wonders if he’s somewhere on the autism spectrum
 

Bald Rick

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More widely, looking at him and his idiosyncrasies part of me wonders if he’s somewhere on the autism spectrum

No doubt about it in my mind. Same can be said for many cricketers.

Whatever Smith was thinking about scuffing up Pant’s guard marks, I don’t know.
 

ainsworth74

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Steve Smith - undoubted world class player. Having read a fair bit about the sandpaper episode I’d say he was immature and unsuited to the captaincy, and easily led especially by Warner.

Thing that I still find unforgivable about that was that they corrupted a younger player as part of their wheeze. I don't want to infantilise Bancroft (he was 26 at the time!) but I can well imagine that if you're at the start of your international career and your captain and vice-captain talk to you about this scheme to use sandpaper to help out the team a bit it would be very hard to say no to that. Obviously you should and I'd hope that if he'd gone to the coach it would have been shut down immediately and Bancroft would have not had to worry about any issues in his career. But I can see how it would be hard and that's what I still thing is unforgiveable for Warner and Smith.
BBC TMS commentary, though they are commentating from 6 locations across the UK as they were not permitted to fly to Sri Lanka.

There was quite an amusing little video of Aggers in his dressing gown introducing the start of the coverage. I'm not entirely sure what Sky are up to but Bumble is certainly commentating from his bedroom. No news on his attire however.
 

Bald Rick

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Thing that I still find unforgivable about that was that they corrupted a younger player as part of their wheeze. I don't want to infantilise Bancroft (he was 26 at the time!) but I can well imagine that if you're at the start of your international career and your captain and vice-captain talk to you about this scheme to use sandpaper to help out the team a bit it would be very hard to say no to that. Obviously you should and I'd hope that if he'd gone to the coach it would have been shut down immediately and Bancroft would have not had to worry about any issues in his career. But I can see how it would be hard and that's what I still thing is unforgiveable for Warner and Smith.

More Warner than Smith at fault there. Albeit Smith wasn’t strong enough to tell Warner to stick the sandpaper up his backside. How Warner is still playing is beyond me.
 

Mikey C

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More Warner than Smith at fault there. Albeit Smith wasn’t strong enough to tell Warner to stick the sandpaper up his backside. How Warner is still playing is beyond me.
I still find the whole affair really suspicious anyway, if there's ball tampering, surely it would be the quicks instigating it, not an opening batsman?
 

DarloRich

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More widely, looking at him and his idiosyncrasies part of me wonders if he’s somewhere on the autism spectrum

No doubt about it in my mind. Same can be said for many cricketers.

Whatever Smith was thinking about scuffing up Pant’s guard marks, I don’t know.
I think he uses his "idiosyncrasies" as an excuse to hide his behviour which i do not think, imo, complies with the spirit of the game.
Steve Smith's Men https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1743796218/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_rjkaGb5B5ERZN

A really interesting and well-written book about Smith, Warner, the sandpaper business and the culture of the team at that time
Well worth a read. I found the Amazon documentary interesting to.
Smith surely no worse than Warner - arguably not so gross.
I think I understand Warner being a wrong 'un more than Smith. Smith being, at best, a facilitator of cheating angers me so much. He is such a good player. Why lower yourself to that level?

I still find the whole affair really suspicious anyway, if there's ball tampering, surely it would be the quicks instigating it, not an opening batsman?
I suspect there was more going on. Bancroft was caught red handed, Warner was the ring leader and Smith was the "weak" captain who allowed it to happen.
 

43096

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I think he uses his "idiosyncrasies" as an excuse to hide his behviour which i do not think, imo, complies with the spirit of the game.
Agreed. He's also an idiot for doing what he did. He's under more scrutiny than anyone else - even more so than Warner, I think, possibly unfairly - so why give more ammunition. In the fourth innings of a Test Match, when he's hot going to bat again, why's he even anywhere near the batting crease in a drinks break?
 

EbbwJunction1

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Just after the resumption after tea, Sri Lanka are 305 for 7, a lead of 19.

Sri Lanka all out, England need 74 to win.
 
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kje7812

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Eng 38-3 at close of play, 36 more needed. A recovery from 14-3. I doubt I'll be up tomorrow morning when they start again, but I suspect it'll be a bit nail biting.
 

EbbwJunction1

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Eng 38-3 at close of play, 36 more needed. A recovery from 14-3. I doubt I'll be up tomorrow morning when they start again, but I suspect it'll be a bit nail biting.

Yes, I think you're right. I'll be up at around 6.00am, so I'll try to remember to put the radio onto TMS rather than Classic FM!
 

Pakenhamtrain

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I still find the whole affair really suspicious anyway, if there's ball tampering, surely it would be the quicks instigating it, not an opening batsman?
I get the feeling Warner did it after he went off a DeKock the game before on the stairs.

Even after the 300 he got last summer it was "yea good innings but he's still a s**thouse bloke"
 

Mikey C

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One annoying fact is that both the England new opening pair fell in both innings without reaching double figures. Lasith Embuldeniya was the bowler who took all those wickets.

Crawley ..... 9 and 8
Sibley ........ 4 and 2
A spinner as well

Indeed both have a slight question mark against them in spinning conditions
 

HST43257

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Next Eng vs SL test starting tomorrow morning (I think). Only England squad change AFAIK is Anderson in for Broad. Much needed rest and rotation.

In other news, England in India for 2 months for 4 tests, 5 T20s and 3 ODIs. Squad announced for first 2 tests, with Ben Foakes confirmed as playing in the 2nd test. Mainly because Jos Buttler is due to be leaving the bubble for whatever reason after the 1st one. Curran, Wood and Bairstow dropped/rested, with Archer, Stokes and Burns back in the side. Any thoughts on squads? Assuming England opt for a 2 spin and 3 pace attack then i can only see Dan Lawrence playing if Ben Stokes is one of those 3 pace bowlers, as this will free up an extra batting spot.
 

Busaholic

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Next Eng vs SL test starting tomorrow morning (I think). Only England squad change AFAIK is Anderson in for Broad. Much needed rest and rotation.

In other news, England in India for 2 months for 4 tests, 5 T20s and 3 ODIs. Squad announced for first 2 tests, with Ben Foakes confirmed as playing in the 2nd test. Mainly because Jos Buttler is due to be leaving the bubble for whatever reason after the 1st one. Curran, Wood and Bairstow dropped/rested, with Archer, Stokes and Burns back in the side. Any thoughts on squads? Assuming England opt for a 2 spin and 3 pace attack then i can only see Dan Lawrence playing if Ben Stokes is one of those 3 pace bowlers, as this will free up an extra batting spot.
So are England planning on opening with Burns and Sibley, with Crawley at 3? Sibley has far too many low (or no) scores among the less frequent Boycottesque contributions: if he fails again in that first test (or maybe even after the imminent SL one) I'd much rather Crawley and Burns opened, with Lawrence retaining his deserved place. It's all complicated by Root not wanting to play at 3, and the dropping of Bairstow, always the fall-guy in my opinion, who's also a better keeper than Buttler in the longer game, and much more likely to score big.
 

HST43257

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So are England planning on opening with Burns and Sibley, with Crawley at 3? Sibley has far too many low (or no) scores among the less frequent Boycottesque contributions: if he fails again in that first test (or maybe even after the imminent SL one) I'd much rather Crawley and Burns opened, with Lawrence retaining his deserved place. It's all complicated by Root not wanting to play at 3, and the dropping of Bairstow, always the fall-guy in my opinion, who's also a better keeper than Buttler in the longer game, and much more likely to score big.
I think that in the absence of Pope, the first 4 has to be Burns and Sibley then Crawley then Root. I wonder if they could try out Lawrence at 3 perhaps, with Stokes at 5 and Buttler at 6. Sibley and Crawley are yet to prove themselves in my opinion. A couple of good scores between them, but quite unreliable on the whole
 

DelW

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Jimmy Anderson's final figures: 29 - 13 - 40 - 6, an excellent performance.

All ten wickets taken by pace bowlers, first time ever in a test at Galle and the first time since 1994 anywhere in Sri Lanka.

An hour ago England struggled to dismiss the Sri Lankan tail-enders, and the spinners couldn't take a single wicket on a supposedly flat pitch. Now the Sri Lankan spinners have taken both our openers' wickets with the score still in single figures.

Sibley and Crawley together have scored 13, 10, and 5 so far in this series. Sibley also wasted a review this morning.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Jimmy Anderson's final figures: 29 - 13 - 40 - 6, an excellent performance.

All ten wickets taken by pace bowlers, first time ever in a test at Galle and the first time since 1994 anywhere in Sri Lanka.

An hour ago England struggled to dismiss the Sri Lankan tail-enders, and the spinners couldn't take a single wicket on a supposedly flat pitch. Now the Sri Lankan spinners have taken both our openers' wickets with the score still in single figures.

Sibley and Crawley together have scored 13, 10, and 5 so far in this series. Sibley also wasted a review this morning.

Five of Jimmy Anderson's wickets were the 1 to 6 batsmen in the Sri Lanka batting order...not just a boost by running through the tail.

What to say about the England opening pair? Both Crawley and Sibley have now had three Test Match innings each in this series, with not a single score in double figures from either of them and all those the six wickets mentioned above have been claimed by Lasith Embuldeniya, who really must look forward to bowling to both of them.


Day 3 of 5

England again have Root to thank for bringing them nearer to the Sri Lanka first innings total and he was out to the final ball of the day, but by then he had scored 186 which followed on from the double hundred he scored in the previous Test Match. Both Buttler (with another 50 under his belt) and Bess aided Root with useful stands.

A pity that a late England batting collapse saw them move from 333-6 to 339-9.

Day 4 of 5

The final England wicket of Leach soon fell, leaving Jimmy Anderson with another "Test Match not out" to add to his not inconsiderable total of these.

Sri Lanka collapsed to 126 all out in their second innings. Only a bright and breezy knock of 40 by number 10 batsman Lasith Embuldeniya (after his bowling heroics) saw the total past the 100 mark with all 10 wickets falling to the England slow and spin brigade:-
Bess.....16 - 1 - 49 - 4
Leach...14 - 1 - 59 - 4
Root.....1.2 - 1 - 0 - 2

Could England wrap up this Test Match in four days?
 
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kje7812

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Five of Jimmy Anderson's wickets were the 1 to 6 batsmen in the Sri Lanka batting order...not just a boost by running through the tail.

What to say about the England opening pair? Both Crawley and Sibley have now had three Test Match innings each in this series, with not a single score in double figures from either of them and all those the six wickets mentioned above have been claimed by Lasith Embuldeniya, who really must look forward to bowling to both of them.


Day 3 of 5

England again have Root to thank for bringing them nearer to the Sri Lanka first innings total and he was out to the final ball of the day, but by then he had scored 186 which followed on from the double hundred he scored in the previous Test Match. Both Buttler (with another 50 under his belt) and Bess aided Root with useful stands.

A pity that a late England batting collapse saw them move from 333-6 to 339-9.

Day 4 of 5

The final England wicket of Leach soon fell, leaving Jimmy Anderson with another "Test Match not out" to add to his not inconsiderable total of these.

Sri Lanka collapsed to 126 all out in their second innings. Only a bright and breezy knock of 40 by number 10 batsman Lasith Embuldeniya (after his bowling heroics) saw the total past the 100 mark with all 10 wickets falling to the England slow and spin brigade:-
Bess.....16 - 1 - 49 - 4
Leach...14 - 1 - 59 - 4
Root....1.2 - 1 - 0 - 2

Could England wrap up this Test Match in four days?
And the answer to the above question is, Yes! Eng 164-4, Sibley 56 not out.
 

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