Sri Lanka Preview

And so the test series against Sri Lanka begins tomorrow and I must say as bad as Sri Lanka currently are, I am distinctly worried about England’s chances in the series.

Sri Lanka are nowhere near the team that England last toured to play against. None of Vaas, Muralitharan or Malinga remains from that test series in 2007 and the replacements since aren’t of a sufficient standard to trouble most international countries. Couple that with the crippling problems of the country which has seen a horrific civil war come to an end in the last few years, and the subsequent economic problems associated with a 25+ year civil war means that this is a country struggling to remain competitive at the top level of international cricket. The players until recently hadn’t been paid for over a year and the cricket board is run by government selected personnel and has been criticized by former and current players alike for corruption and self interest.

For all their problems there remains two players in Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene who are world class and in their own conditions are a formidable pair. Jayawadene averages 62.92 at home and 89.16 with 4 hundreds in 9 tests at home against England. Sangakarra is currently rated the No.1 Test batsman in the world and no longer has the responsibility of captaincy or wicketkeeping to weigh him down. Add Thilan Samaraweera into the fray who in recent times has thrown off his mantle as someone who can only score runs at home – He now has a better record than Jayawardene away from home averaging 47 as opposed to 40 and you have an energy sapping middle order to dismiss.

But for all those qualities, three batsman does not make a team and the fact that that the team has been constantly on tour in recent months and the upheaval with the cricket board and payment of players, the team will not come together completely fresh both physically and mentally.

Many of England’s players from the 2007 tour remain with both Ravi Bopara and Monty Panesar hoping for more success this time around. Both had since been vanquished from the team before returning in recent times. How they do on this tour may well shape the rest of their career. For Bopara it may already be over before it all begins as he has picked up a side strain which means he can’t bowl and it seems like he may miss out on the no.6 spot because of this. If they don’t play with him in the first test there is no point picking him again – the selectors, captain and coach obviously are convinced by his temperament and technique and if he is surpassed by Patel who is an average batsman and no more than a pie chucker who won’t bowl much in a team containing Swann and in particular Panesar than there obviously is no point persevering with Bopara. To me Bopara isn't quite there and unlike Bell he has neither the skill nor mental ability to master international cricket. We always knew that Bell had the technical skill to master international cricket but there had always been question marks over his mental acuity. For Bopara there are still questions of him on both counts if you ask me. Too often when in comfortable conditions he will come in and look incapable of scoring runs. Whether this is a mental struggle with himself to do with the pacing of his innings or the fear of failure, or he just doesn’t have the required strokeplay for international level I don’t know, but the fact that he has question marks over both facets of his game means unlike Bell he has a lot to prove and it seems unlikely that he will make it at international level.

Panesar on the other hand seems to have improved and has found his second coming in international cricket. This will be a test on the flat wickets against very strong players of spin, but from what I’ve seen so far he has improved as a bowler and should offer more now. His batting and fielding still remain embarrassing although he seemingly works hard on both. Graeme Swann is starting to come under pressure and some of his recent comments in the media seem to be of a man who is not altogether happy with how things are going. Swann is the better cricketer and still would be my first choice come the summer but in Asian conditions where long containing spells are often required Monty now has the edge over Swann and this should be a warning to Swann to not rest on his laurels. Swann’s batting in recent times has been reckless and almost arrogant with the approach of ‘ I take all these wickets so I’m going to have a slog with the bat’. That was fine when there was no other spinner in contention but now more than ever he is going to have show that he is a multidimensional cricketer and that he can make contributions in the field and with the bat; that is something Panesar cannot provide.

Personally for the first test I’d much rather go with Bopara or Bresnan rather than Patel. If Patel does play I can’t see him bowling much at all as a third spinner (and second SLA’r) as Monty is used to and even enjoys bowling lots of overs and Patel really offers no variation to the attack. For that reason if they do select him I have to feel they think he is a better batsman than Bopara. Bresnan chances were increased 10 fold by Bopara’s injury but will probably lose out due to his lack of match practice in recent time.

Ian Bell comes into the tour on the back of more poor form in the warm up games and desperately needs a score to help him regain some of his confidence.  Bell averaged 43.5 in his previous tour to Sri Lanka against a significantly stronger looking Sri Lankan bowling attack but as is life, confidence and form is so fickle and he is dreadfully short of both. Where 4 failures in the test series will leave him I don’t know. Before the Pakistan tour I would have said he was England’s classiest player and had finally made the step up to a world class batsman and he may well have been on the verge of a golden period in his career. But now the doubters in the press and supporters, and the doubts in Bell's own mind have seemingly reappeared and the future does not seem so clear.

So much of England’s success comes from the top 3 and Alastair Cook comes more and more vital to the England cause as each day goes by. He really is turning into a very fine player and could become a great leader. Even if he isn’t a great tactician, his professionalism and runscoring alone should allow him to become admired and respected by his peers in the team and allow him to go onto great things with the captaincy when the inevitable happens and he takes over as test captain. For now he will have to concentrate on scoring runs and he has all tools to prosper here. His high levels of fitness and mental strength should allow him to prosper even with the boiling temperatures. So much of what is good by England comes from a solid base that Cook and to a lesser extent Trott build and given the lack of confidence that a lot of the current England top order have in Asia I will be reassured if Cook scores runs in the first innings of the series.

My preferred xi (Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Prior, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Panesar)

My prediction: Who knows. We should win given the state of Sri Lankan cricket but I’m not exactly confident.