With the first test match starting tomorrow there has only been limited opportunities for the boys to get match practise but what little play they have been able to get has shown some good signs with 6 out of the top 7 batsmen making at least 40, and the 2 who didn't reach 50 were both retired out meaning that they couldn't get there half century.
The best thing was that the bowlers also got some good time out in the middle honing their skills as in the first warm up match Graeme Swann took an incredible 6-55 and then the forgotten hero of 18 months ago Ryan Sidebottom took 5-42 in the second match, both of which comfortably ended in draws, and as they were only 2 days long you have to wonder why they didn't merge the 2 to at least make a warm up match that was 4 days long.
So with the team not being announced until tomorrow many people have been speculating on how they are going to go in to this test match as in whether they will play 6 batsmen and the wicketkeeper or if they will play Matt Prior as the 6th batsmen meaning that they can then play 4 seamers and a spinner. The obvious thing that this means is that Stuart Broad will have to bat at number 7 and there are lots of people that are unsure whether or not he is ready for this.
The one other option that they have is to have Matt Prior bat at number 6 and use Luke Wright to bat at number 7 as he is a better batsmen than Stuart Broad and can also bowl some good medium pace seam bowling at around 85mph. This could be the option that they choose to go because obviously this will strengthen the batting whilst also maintaining that we have 5 bowlers that can be used.
Back to the here and now though and I was most surprised to turn on the TV this morning and see that in the One Day International series the Indians had batted first and made a fantastic 414-7 off their 50 overs with Sehwag, Dhoni and Tendulkar all making good runs and despite the fact that this is almost always good enough to be a winning score with 29 overs gone the Sri Lankans are 233-1 and well on course to chase down this large total.
So until next week when my blog will be about the first test and also whether or not Sri Lanka manage to chase down that mammoth total.
The best thing was that the bowlers also got some good time out in the middle honing their skills as in the first warm up match Graeme Swann took an incredible 6-55 and then the forgotten hero of 18 months ago Ryan Sidebottom took 5-42 in the second match, both of which comfortably ended in draws, and as they were only 2 days long you have to wonder why they didn't merge the 2 to at least make a warm up match that was 4 days long.
So with the team not being announced until tomorrow many people have been speculating on how they are going to go in to this test match as in whether they will play 6 batsmen and the wicketkeeper or if they will play Matt Prior as the 6th batsmen meaning that they can then play 4 seamers and a spinner. The obvious thing that this means is that Stuart Broad will have to bat at number 7 and there are lots of people that are unsure whether or not he is ready for this.
The one other option that they have is to have Matt Prior bat at number 6 and use Luke Wright to bat at number 7 as he is a better batsmen than Stuart Broad and can also bowl some good medium pace seam bowling at around 85mph. This could be the option that they choose to go because obviously this will strengthen the batting whilst also maintaining that we have 5 bowlers that can be used.
Back to the here and now though and I was most surprised to turn on the TV this morning and see that in the One Day International series the Indians had batted first and made a fantastic 414-7 off their 50 overs with Sehwag, Dhoni and Tendulkar all making good runs and despite the fact that this is almost always good enough to be a winning score with 29 overs gone the Sri Lankans are 233-1 and well on course to chase down this large total.
So until next week when my blog will be about the first test and also whether or not Sri Lanka manage to chase down that mammoth total.
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