Sri Lanka vs England: 2nd Test Preview - England's Test No. 1 status at stake once again
Upbeat after the momentous victory over the World No. 1 Test side England at Galle last week, Mahela Jayawardene-led Sri Lankans are all set to take the Poms in the second and last Test of the short series at the P Sara Oval Stadium, Colombo, on Tuesday,
April 3, 2012.
Whilst the Lankans will go into the Colombo Test eying their first Test series win since spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement in July 2010, England will be sweating over losing their coveted spot at the top of ICC’s Test rankings to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757.
The Islanders need only to draw the second Test to clinch the series, while a victory to strip the Poms of their world number one Test status.
The 75-run loss against Sri Lanka in Galle was England’s fourth Test defeat in a row this year, following the 3-0 whitewash at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 in January. Their bowling has kept them a bit in the game of late, but their
batting, especially against spinners, has consistently been a major let down in the recent encounters.
England’s dismal form with the bat against slow bowlers continued at Galle as well, as they were bundled out for a meagre 193 in their first innings, as left-arm orthodox spinner led the Lankan attack from the front, returning with 6 for 74 in the first
innings. Herath claimed another six wickets in England’s second innings as he returned with match figures of 12 for 171.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758’s batting was also not up to the mark. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene’s divine 180 in the first innings, coupled with wicketkeeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardene’s unbeaten half-century played a crucial role in helping the hosts put a par score on the
board in both the innings.
Frontline England pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566 as his replacement.
After toiling with the ball in Galle and dropping two crucial catches as well, left-arm spinner Monty Panesar may also find himself back on the sidelines and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Bresnan-c2711 might come in for Panesar.
The hosts, on the other hand, will be forced into at least one change with Dhammika Prasad coming in for injured http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 is likely to make a comeback at Colombo but as
a specialist batsman, in which case the selectors would have to rest Dinesh Chandimal who scored 27 and 31 in Galle.
Four Test defeats in a row have put Strauss’ individual form as well as his captaincy role under scrutiny. But the left-arm opener said that his focus in the must-win second Test will be to save the Test number one status and will not be thinking about captaincy
or other issues.
"Not at all. It'd be wrong for me to think about anything other than us winning this game. That's where both my emphasis and my intention is at the moment." said Strauss on Monday. "I've got great faith in us as a team to show that sort of resilience we
need to show this week,” he hoped.
The wicket at P. Sara Oval in Colombo is deemed to be a batting paradise. Scattered thunderstorms in Colombo have been forecasted for the first three days of the Test, so it is unlikely to witness a complete five-day match.
Probable Playing XI:
Sri Lanka 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ranasinghe-Arachchige-Suranga-Lakmal-c83928, 11 Chanaka
Welegedera .
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Monty-Panesar-c2024.
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