Sri Lanka vs England, 3rd ODI

England took a 2-1 lead in the one day series in Sri Lanka after a tense and low-scoring game in Dambulla. On an agonisingly slow pitch both teams struggled to score, with only Dilshan looking like he had the measure of the conditions.

England were on top for most of Sri Lanka’s innings, making the most of rain breaks to restrict them to 42-4. If there was a Spirit of Cricket award for each match it would have surely gone to Sangakkara who walked after he was caught off the thinnest of thin edges, with neither Broad nor Mustard appealing.

Dilshan dug in to score 70, taking Sri Lanka to a near-respectable 164 (although England’s target was reduced by 1 run by the obscurities of the Duckworth-Lewis system), but England made hard work of it, the top order once again failing to fire. Mustard was unlucky to be bowled when the ball clipped his trousers and rebounded onto the wicket, and he looks like he could make a decent one-day opener.

Collingwood and Shah steadied the ship, but both were undone by Jayasuriya’s slow bowling. It was left to the bowlers to make it to the end, Swann and Broad both solidifying their reputations as handy lower order batsman.

Undoubted man of the match was Graeme Swann, taking 4-42 and scoring 25 runs off 37 balls (England’s second highest score). In honour of the new spinning star, who must surely have earned himself a place on the return trip to Sri Lanka for the Test series, I present some facts about the man they call Swann:

Nine facts about Graeme Swann

Graeme Swann shares a birthday with Alan Sugar and actor Richard Conte (he played Barzini in The Godfather)
Graeme Swann has hit 4 centuries in first class cricket.
Graeme Swann’s bowling action can break a man’s arm.
Graems Swann’s nicknames include ‘Chin’ and ‘Swanny’.
Graeme Swann has a brother called Alec who has played for Lancashire and Northamptonshire.
Graeme Swann is owned by the Queen.
Graeme Swann mates for life.
Graeme Swann can migrate up to 3,000 miles each winter.
Graeme Swann was believed to be a duckling until he reached adolescence.

Sri Lanka vs England, 2nd ODI

England rediscovered the attitude and discipline that powered them to ODI victory over India in the summer when they recorded a convincing 65-run win over Sri Lanka.

England’s top order again failed to fire, only Mustard making a real contribution with 28 from 36 balls. Pietersen in particular looked out of sorts, struggling to make 12 runs off 41 balls. Collingwood and Shah had the task of getting their team back into the game, and it was Shah’s 82 that set England up with a competitive target. Swann again proved his usefulness as a lower order batsman with a handy 34 off 37 balls.

By contrast to the batting, England’s bowling was a team effort, the wickets evenly shared out amongst the bowlers, only Jimmy Anderson failing to take a scalp, although he bowled well enough to deserve at least one. Ryan Sidebottom proved that he can prosper away from English pitches, but again it was Graeme Swann who shone, taking 2-27 from his 10 overs.

In his current form there is little danger of Swann being replaced with Panesar. England might fancy playing two spinners in one of the forthcoming games, but who would be dropped? All three of the fast bowlers have proved themselves capable in Sri Lankan conditions, and given the last two matches the selectors would be wary of weakening the batting.

Sri Lanka vs England, 1st ODI

Sri Lanka cruised to an easy victory yesterday over a dismal England. Sri Lanka on home soil were always going to be tough to beat, but England failed to even compete as their old nemesis Mid-Order Batting Collapse decided to put the boot in.

Panesar was left out of the squad for Graeme Swann, and Phil Mustard (as tipped by me) was in for the injured Matt Prior. This is in line with England’s long-term policy of selecting players whose names can be used to make amusing headlines in the papers. Expect to see SWANN-SONG, PHIL CUTS THE MUSTARD and KEEN AS MUSTARD in a tabloid near you soon. Bell, Cook, Broad and Sidebottom can rest easy while this policy is in place, but Kevin Pietersen should watch out.

My condiments to the wicket-keeper

Mere hours after I tipped Phil Mustard to be a contender for bigger things, Hampshire captain and future citizen of Germany Shane Warne has jumped on the bandwagon and tipped the Colonel to star for England. Predictably, he likened him to Adam Gilchrist, which must be something of a burden for a wicket-keeper, much in the same way that every England cricketer who showed the merest hint of being able to bat as well as bowl in the last two decades ran the risk of being labelled The New Ian Botham.

While it would be wonderful to uncover a English Gilchrist or Sangakkara, if there isn’t one in the counties then the selectors need to accept another kind of keeper. One option is to simply select the best gloveman, which would be an acceptable strategy if England had sufficient batting from it’s lower orders (a future line-up including Flintoff, Broad and Rashid might allow just such a strategy). Another option would be a keeper who can defend with the bat, rather than attack. Ian Bell didn’t have a good series against India, perhaps because he knew that as soon as Prior came in he was in a race against time to get some runs in before the lower orders got themselves out.

A keeper who could at least block out the bowlers would let the last batsman play his natural game, and be a useful nightwatchman too. England would benefit from a dull but dependable keeper who could reliably score 20 or so runs in an innings, rather than insisting on a run machine who may well not be out there.

Durham victorious

Durham cruised to victory on the second half of the FP final at Lord’s today. Hampshire showed little sign of making a serious attempt to chase down the runs as Collingwood and Plunkett picked off the batsmen.

The decision to let the final run onto a second day – unpopular with Aggers over on the TMS blog and no doubt with many Durham fans too – allowed Plunkers to redeem himself from yesterday’s disappointing display and finish with respectable figures of 3 for 42 and an economy of 4.66. I like Plunkett, but both Durham and England fans have learnt never to be sure what to expect of him. He can be wayward at times, and a leg-side full toss this afternoon was a stark reminder of that, but his very next over was a wicket maiden, an outstanding piece of cricket so late in a one-day innings. Hopefully a stint for his county will help him acquire the consistency that would make him a formidable and long-term part of England’s bowling attack.

Plunkett is not the only Durham player who may be a part of England’s future. Graham Onions continues to impress and it is hard to imagine that he will not have a chance to play for the national side soon. Equally, Mustard’s record should make him a contender to replace Prior if his poor form continues. And who can deny that they would relish the headlines that those two would engender?

Anyway, congratulations to Durham for their first title, and to Ottis Gibson for his man of the match award.

Durham in charge at Lord’s

In their sixteenth year of First Class cricket Durham have victory in sight at the Friends Provident final at Lord’s.

Entering the final as underdogs, Durham were handed a surprise boon by Shane Warne when he won the toss and elected to field. Wicket-keeper Phil ‘Colonel’ Mustard got the innings off to a flying start with a quick-fire 49, featuring 6 fours and a six and was unlucky to be given out LBW before reaching his half-century.

Shiv Chanderpaul – one of two West Indians to star for Durham – put on 78, reaching his 50 with a six, before being run out after misreading the field. Having gained a reputation as a slow accumulator during this summer’s matches against England his 78 runs came off just 79 balls, and was complimented by Coetzer’s mature 61.

Much was made in this morning’s papers about the clash between Paul Collingwood and Shane Warne, who had such fun together in Australia last winter, but in the end it didn’t amount to much. Colly made a scrappy 22 before being caught, but he’ll be relieved at least not to have been undone by the Warnester.

Ottis Gibson came in with only 13 balls left in the innings and made his intentions clear by knocking his first delivery for six, and the second for four, finishing not out with 15 runs off 7 balls. Durham captain Dale Benkenstein finished the innings in style by hitting three boundaries in a row and ending on 61. He will have been confident that his team’s formidable 312 – a record for a Lord’s final – would prove a tough target for Hampshire.

Gibson, no doubt buoyed by his batting cameo, cemented his place in the Durham fans’ affection when he struck with the first ball of the Hampshire innings to have Lumb caught at second slip. If that weren’t enough, he repeated the feat with very next ball, leaving Hampshire floundering on 0-2. In came Kevin Pietersen who could only manage a boundary-free 12 before becoming Gibson’s third victim, leg before wicket in the 9th over.

John Crawley was the only batsman to offer hope to the Hampshire fans, scoring 68 before Collingwood slipped a cutter past his bat in the 30th over and sent his leg stump flying.

Hampshire were on 153-5 and looking down the barrel of a comprehensive defeat when the three of the most depressing words in cricket, ‘rain stopped play*’, brought the match to an abrupt halt.

*Second only to ‘England batting collapse’.