England / Sri Lanka

Moeen Ali foolishly expects other England players to score some of the runs

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Cricket - Investec Test series - England v India - Ageas Bowl Cricket Ground, Southampton, England

That’s okay. That’s what these tours are for. Moeen will have learnt from this. From now on, he’ll know that 119 off 87 balls simply isn’t enough and he’ll instead score 180 off 110 balls or whatever.

Other than that, one of the great joys of the first one-day international between Sri Lanka and England was in seeing Alastair Cook being given out three times – at one point off two successive deliveries. Did England’s mighty stuttering captain let this stop him? Did he heck. Well, okay, he let the third one stop him, but he’d already rollicked his way to 10 off 17 balls by then so it really didn’t matter. That’s really not a bad strike rate when you consider that three of those 17 deliveries were dismissals.

Ravi Bopara was the most economical bowler, so he was limited to just four overs. James Tredwell finished his spell with sixes and then outs – a pair of each. Harry Gurney bowled six wides. Sri Lanka also played.

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18 comments

  1. Remember when everyone used to get their undies in a twist over Ian Bell ‘not seeing it through’? He would make a decent score but because he wasn’t there at the end, he’d messed it up.

  2. Can someone please drop Moeen now. When he’s playing, I feel this thing apparently called hope. I don’t like it. If I wanted to feel hope I wouldn’t be a fan of English cricket.

    1. Chris Tavaré isn’t dead. Don’t scare me like that. I say recall him. And David Steele, and Mike Brearley, and Brian Close.

  3. Any bets on how many ODIs Cook will play after the World Cup?

    I’m going for 0.

    He’s (j)effing useless in this format.

    2. I presumed before clicking on that link that you were asking for an exhumation and resurrection of Chris Tavaré, Sam.

    3. Comment in reply to Daneel’s reply to the above comment, but which is replying to another comment:

      So he isn’t. But would anyone notice if he was? Is he dead, or just occupying the crease?

      (Am I allowed to say this sort of thing given the Hughes situation? 😕 )

  4. I struggle to suppress my sarcastic laughter when there are headlines like “England lose despite century from (Player X)”. You don’t see that in Baseball – “reliever pitches perfect eighth inning as Red Sox lose 15-0”, or in Formula 1 – “perfect change of right rear tyre in vain as Rosberg fails to win Grand Prix”.

    1. Replying to Balladeer’s comment (but not this comment) in reply to my comment which was replying to another comment.

      No comment.

  6. Sam, I guess you are aware of how spookily similar the stats of Jeff Jones and his son Simon are? It must be the Force

  7. I don’t know, history suggests it’s really hard to chase on that ground. I think they gave it a good go — I just don’t think Ben Stokes is good enough in these conditions.

  9. “Masakadza’s event was unfortunate, but it happens sometimes in cricket, and this is where the DRS should come into play.” – CRICINFO COMMENTS.

  11. Woke to the tragic news this morning that Phil Hughes has died. Words cannot express how sad and shocking this incident has been.

    During Phil’s brief time at Middlesex, Daisy and I enjoyed one of the most exciting days at County Championship cricket of my (much longer) life. 9 May 2009. Phil Hughes was in dominating form that match and indeed set up the nail-biter at the end of the final day, which we so enjoyed.

    http://stats.thecricketer.com/Scorecards/204/204303.html

    There’s no fitting tribute in these circumstances, but this is one of the ways I shall fondly remember him.

    1. Hear, hear.

      I had the pleasure of watching him bat live only once, at this match, and although it was only against Scotland, the highest compliment I can pay is that I began to panic about how good he might be in the upcoming Ashes series.

  12. RIP Phil Hughes. So tragic and awful. Also feel for the bowler. He seemed to come across as a nice guy.

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