Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series

[kevshat]

After their debacle in Pakistan earlier in the year England now head off to the extreme heat of Sri Lanka for a two test match series and one which could strengthen their number one status ahead of the international summer. With Sri Lanka now led by Mahela Jayawardene they should be more competitive than recent times when we've seen them in the longer format so while a two test series isn't ideal it should at least be relatively competitive. Both matches are live on Sky and begin early enough to get a couple of hours in before people go to work. Schedule: [TABLE=width: 630]

[TR=class: FixOdi] [TD=width: 25%]Mon Mar 26 - Fri Mar 30 04:30 GMT | 10:00 local 05:30 BST [/TD] [TD=width: 50%] 1st Test - Sri Lanka v England Galle International Stadium [/TD] [TD=width: 20%] N/A [/TD] [TD=width: 5%, align: right] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=width: 630, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, colspan: 4][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: FixOdi] [TD=width: 25%] Tue Apr 3 - Sat Apr 7 04:30 GMT | 10:00 local 05:30 BST [/TD] [TD=width: 50%] 2nd Test - Sri Lanka v England P Sara Oval, Colombo [/TD] [TD=width: 20%] N/A [/TD] [TD=width: 5%, align: right] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[kevshat]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series Series begins soon. Usually I wouldn't be taking outrights in a two test series but there's a couple of prices I like here and Sri Lanka is a place where it's hard to have a lot of match bets because of the indifferent weather so I'll take some outrights to compliment any match bets I have. 2pts Series Correct Score - 0-0 6/1 Blue Square I've got bad memories of this bet because I took the same bet when Sri Lanka were in England last summer and then Sri Lanka decided to have 2hrs to forget and collapse to a defeat which was the only result in that series. However on these wickets out in Sri Lanka you just don't see a collapse taking place, certainly not from Sri Lanka anyway. England's batsmen have a point to prove after how they crumbled to Saeed Ajmal out in the UAE but there's no Saeed Ajmal in this Sri Lanka side. Ajantha Mendis isn't in the squad so they won't have to worry about him so it's just finger spin which generally England have dealt with ok in recent times. There's nothing from the quicks to worry about either. England will have to work very hard in the extreme heat and humidity for their wickets and while they have a hard working attack they won't be bowling in conditions which favour them. Galle, the venue for the first test, was warned over the state of it's wicket after it last hosted a test so I would expect a road there to make up for it and Colombo you are always having one eye on any storms which are around. The nature of the game out in Sri Lanka is very slow and attritional and on batting wickets I think the 0-0 has to have every chance here. 2pts A.Strauss Top England Series Batsman 9/2 Blue Square Andrew Strauss looks a big price to me here. I think over the four innings the top score will come from one of England's top three and I see no reason why it can't be Andrew Strauss. He generally steps up to the mark when the going is tough and we saw in the World Cup last year that he's perfectly able to bat in these conditions now unlike earlier in his career where he was very poor in them. Although Trott scored the most runs in the Pakistan series, Strauss was only 11 runs behind him. I don't see why that should make Strauss a 9/2 chance here. Of course I respect Cook's credentials but even he shouldn't be 2pts bigger than his captain. Strauss has a ton on the tour in the warm up matches so he's had a lot of time in the middle, he is a patient player who doesn't have to score quickly unlike some England players and he's improved a lot against spin. I think he'll milk the seamers and with Herath turning the ball into his pads I would expect him to go well against him too. As I say I expect one of the top 3 to top score in this series but there's no reason I can find why Strauss should be as big as 9/2 and so much bigger than the other 2 so for a value punt I'll take the England captain here. 5pts R.Herath Top Sri Lanka Series Bowler 9/4 Bet365 This looks like a bit of a no brainer to me. I don't see the Sri Lankan seamers doing much damage in this mini series. They didn't do any damage in seaming conditions over in England last year and although we didn't face Dhammika Prasad in that series he hasn't got anything we've not seen before. So then in my eyes that brings it into a match bet between Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv, the two spinners. Herath is certain to play both tests barring injury whereas Randiv isn't especially if he doesn't go well in the first match. England have a few right handers in their side so Herath will be taking the ball away from them and he's generally quite miserly so the pressure when he bowls at England's batsmen may tell. We saw how Abdur Rehman caused England's batsmen a lot of problems in their last test series in the UAE and given that there's no Ajmal in this series I would expect the left armer to cause the most difficulty in this series too. At 9/4 I think he's a sufficient price for a chunky outright bet in this series.

[kevshat]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series I'll go with four in the first test. Not a place for chunky stakes because of the weather although generally in Galle the weather is ok. 4pts I.Bell's 1st Inns Runs - 0-30 runs 10/11 Blue Square Ian Bell's having a pretty wretched time of things at the minute and while I don't doubt his quality and his class he isn't exactly showing signs of scoring big runs at the minute. He never got past 30 in the six innings he played out in the UAE against Pakistan earlier in the year and he hasn't got near it in the warm up matches in this series either. I actually expected him to go well against Pakistan because he's usually a very good player of spin but part of the reason why he's a good player of spin is his footwork. When you are out of nick and lacking in confidence you'll generally find it harder to move your feet and that could be Bell's problem. He's more than good enough to score more than 30 but at the minute he's not looking like it. In his only previous test match on this ground Bell made just 1 in the first innings and only 34 in the second innings so he's not even got good memories of the ground to fall back on. I think 10/11 is a big price for a guy who hasn't seen 30 in any innings he's played in 2012 so far. 3pts M.Prior's Performance Pts - 87&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 25pts per stumping. Matt Prior's performance line looks just a smidgeon on the low side to me. He probably won't get a lot of catches with the gloves but a stumping is perfectly possible especially if Sri Lanka get into a position where they have a slog to set up a declaration. However most of his point scoring will be done with the bat which he's in decent enough form in and should go well with during this series. Prior is a counter attacking batsman but he plays spin pretty well and can soon scatter a field which will be too our advantage. If Prior bats twice I've got him factored in for 70 or so runs but if England are pushing for a declaration he comes into his own and he could even get more than that. I've got him factored in for one stumping too which would make up the 95pts I think he'll get. Of course there's no reason why he won't score more than 70 runs or why he will only get one stumping. Any catches would be a bonus but even without them I think he'll cover 87pts. 3pts R.Herath Top Sri Lanka Bowler (1st Inns Only) 11/4 Bet365 Can't add much to the write up I did for the outright preview. All I will do is remind anyone following that if it is a tie in this innings the guy conceding the least runs will win and Herath generally doesn't concede many runs and England struggle to get left arm spinners away with their many right handers. Randiv is more likely to give runs away as he's easier for the right handers to sweep, something all England batsmen do too much of even though they shouldn't do it at all. Herath is the best bowler in the attack and with the use of DRS giving him and spinners in general a lot more wickets I think at 11/4 he's a decent shout in this market. 1pt ew S.Patel Top England Batsman (1st Inns Only) 16/1 Ladbrokes (1/5 1,2,3) Samit Patel is never a 16/1 shot to top score in an innings no matter where he bats but if he plays, and although that isn't a certainty I think he's ahead of Bopara in the pecking order now because Bopara can't bowl in the series, if he plays he will bat at number 6 which is a perfectly good position to top score from or at least place and even the place at 16/1 would make a sufficient profit. Patel plays spin well and when he bats he'll be doubly concentrating to try and put down a big score and secure his place in the test side ahead of the summer to come. With Prior to come after him and Broad and Swann there's enough batting afterwards to keep him company for a big score and I think Patel is well worth an each way bet at a price which is at least double the price someone as good as Patel should be. I suspect the 16/1 is partly down to him maybe not playing but if he doesn't play we get a refund, and partly down to it being his test match debut if he does play but he's played enough international cricket in the limited overs forms of the game for him to be pretty settled and relaxed which makes the 16/1 look great value in an innings where you would think he is a certainty to bat in should he play.

[^Newbie^]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series Haven had a look at the markets but i see that allister cook is in the line up . This guy is on fire from the pakistan trip and handles spin very well . Lankans are gonna use spin to some extent too and i see allister cook scoring some runs as well . Will look for the markets for cook before posting a bet then . If i wanna bet on someone in england top scoring , it has to be cook leading the way .

[^Newbie^]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series Game started for day 2 and its 42.5 runs for cook on the handicaps . A bit high for my liking though , but worth a little shot considering he's in good form . Cook Over 42.5 runs it is then

[kevshat]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series Profit in the first test. Second test begins in the morning. I'll take 2. 4pts England to win 2nd Test 15/8 Paddy Power I don't think the draw is in play in this match. From what I've heard about the wicket it is heavily cracked and those cracks are set to get wider and wider so we're looking at a certain finish to the test match even allowing for the fact that storms will doubtlessly be around Colombo. I think we're going to see a lot of variable bounce in this wicket and with Stuart Broad out and talk of Steve Finn coming in to replace him he looks the obvious pick to get the most demons out of the wicket. Tim Bresnan will probably play too with Broad out and he hits the deck hard as well so I expect England's bowling attack to be even more potent than they have been so far this winter. Sri Lanka's bowling attack was pretty tame when England were going well in that second innings and but for a really weird tactic in their first batting innings and a couple of dropped catches and a no ball England would've won that test match. The no ball doesn't happen too often and it doesn't cost more than 50 runs very often either when it does happen. Monty's dropped catches were unfortunate but England are generally good in the field. Looking at that first innings in more detail and you don't see innings like the one Mahela Jayawardene played every day of the week either. With a more sensible mindset and more patient approach with slightly better shot selection and a reproduction of the norm in the field England should show the world that we are better than Sri Lanka and win this match and tie the series. 1pt ew M.Prior Top England Batsman (1st Inns Only) 10/1 Ladbrokes (1/5 1,2,3) Matt Prior looked at ease in that second innings when he was batting with Jonathan Trott and you'd have to say he was unlucky to be out in that innings when an amazing piece of reading of the game from Thirimanne brought about his dismissal. Generally though he looked solid in defence and put the bad ball away and even the new ball never got rid of him so the 10/1 quote on him in this match looks a trifle big given that even if England bat a lot better in this test, which I expect them to do, invariably not everyone will contribute at the same time. I was interested to see Prior batting above Patel in the first test and that is a good thing for this bet. We know Prior is batting well so that unknown doesn't need to worry us and at 10/1 I think he's worth an each way bet in England's first innings.

[goochrules]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series Kevshat in heed of what you have just said.. would you take Player Performance under 130 for graeme swann? hes not likely to do a whole lot with the bat, and the seamers should be able to skittle sri lanka..

[kevshat]

Re: Sri Lanka vs England - Test Series Sorry mate I dived off to bed shortly after I posted. Bit late really to reply but I will say I expect England's seamers to continue taking the most wickets if that's any help to you for betting potential for the rest of the match :ok