Sunday 3 July 2011

England v Sri Lanka round 3

Under Fantasy Bob's watchful gaze, the natural order of things asserted itself on Friday as Sri Lanka thrashed England in the ODI at Headingley.  There was lots of dressing up in the stands as is the usual practice these days and the Sri Lankan team got in the spirit by dressing as Kwik Fit Fitters.  And on this performance you can't bat better than a KwikFit batter.

Kwik Fit Fitters
Sri Lankan Batsmen

Round 3 takes place at Lords today and Sri Lanka must feel the wind in their sails.  It is hard to see how England can regain momentum.

FB now has a new hero in Mahela Jayawardene - FB has always known he was top drawer, but watching him in 3D on Friday was an eye opener.  He simply dripped class, showing how effortlessly to accumulate runs, how to split the field with precision to 3 decimal places.  Magical.  If Mahela is still in the mood at Lords, England will surely have a long day in the field.  Their bowling was pretty lame on Friday which didn't help them, so there might be a change there - Patel would give a bit of variation and, Anderson aside, he could replace any of the seamers who were deeply unimpressive.

But it is maybe the batting that is of more worry.  Things were looking good for 10 overs until Kieswetter gave fine leg catching practice - he couldn't have hit a very hittable ball more directly at the fielder if he had tried.  Some mental fault there FB thinks.  Trott came in and the brakes slammed on and the commentators got stuck it.  With some justification -Trott is a one paced player.  There is a cruel Twitter thread on #Trott's fault in which he is blamed for every calamity in the universe from the present financial mess to the Tweeter losing a 50p down the back of the sofa.  If it annoys you or threatens you - it's Trott's fault.  Now FB is not so ungenerous to suggest that England's defeat was Trott's fault, but he certainly didn't help them do much to avoid it.   He may well be an asset on a green top when wickets are falling all around, but with a big total to chase in the sun - no.  Time for Bopara?

KP looked not even a shadow of the player he can be.  Even Bell underperformed.  Malinga's fine catch of KP's understruck and inelegant club to mid on was indicative of the difference between the teams in the field too.  You can't field better than a Kwik Fit Fielder..............but not Trott's fault.

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