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Post by Panda on Jan 18, 2021 6:00:01 GMT 1
No problems for England, wrapping up victory early on the final day without losing any more wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The 2nd and final test starts on Friday.
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Post by Panda on Jan 21, 2021 17:56:51 GMT 1
The England squad for the first two tests against India has been announced. There will be a separate squad announced for the final two tests, with some players leaving the tour halfway through and others joining as England try to manage a busy 2021 schedule, all of which could be played in bio-secure conditions.
Squad: Joe Root (c) Jofra Archer Moeen Ali James Anderson Dom Bess Stuart Broad Rory Burns Jos Buttler Zak Crawley Ben Foakes Dan Lawrence Jack Leach Dom Sibley Ben Stokes Olly Stone Chris Woakes
Reserves: James Bracey Mason Crane Saqib Mahmood Matthew Parkinson Ollie Robinson Amar Virdi
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Post by Panda on Jan 22, 2021 18:10:42 GMT 1
Sri Lanka edged day 1 of the 2nd test after recovering from another awful start. After winning the toss and again choosing to bat, they were reduced to 7-2, with Jimmy Anderson taking two early wickets. He got a third just after lunch to leave Sri Lanka on 76-3 but the hosts fought back with a 4th wicket stand of 117 between Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews, who went on to make an unbeaten century. Sri Lanka reached 229-4 at the close with England's spinners failing to have any impact so far.
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Post by Panda on Jan 23, 2021 20:36:34 GMT 1
Finely poised after day 2. Sri Lanka all out for 381 with Anderson taking a brilliant 6-40. It was the first time in 20 years that all 10 wickets in a test innings in Sri Lanka have been taken by fast bowlers.
Sibley and Crawley fell cheaply again to spinner Embuldeniya to leave England on 5-2 but Root and Bairstow steadied things, taking England through to 98-2 at the close, with Root unbeaten on 67.
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Post by Panda on Jan 24, 2021 16:20:27 GMT 1
A solid day for England as they get closer to Sri Lanka's 1st innings score. England finished on 339-9 after Joe Root was run out for 186 in the final over of the day, with Jos Buttler earlier making 55 and Dom Bess a patient 32. Spinner Embuldeniya took 7-132.
During the course of his innings, Root moved from 7th to 4th on England's all-time test run scorers list, overtaking Geoff Boycott, Kevin Pietersen and David Gower (having played fewer tests than all three) as he reached 8238 test runs. He only has Alastair Cook, Graham Gooch and Alec Stewart ahead of him and it's very likely he'll be up to 2nd before the end of the year, though he's still 4000 runs short of Cook's record total.
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Post by o on Jan 24, 2021 16:47:22 GMT 1
Great performance by Root so far!
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Post by Panda on Jan 25, 2021 18:39:34 GMT 1
England win the 2nd test with a day to spare and clinch the series 2-0 after a spectacular day's play. England added 5 to their overnight score and were all out for 344, giving Sri Lanka a 1st innings lead of 37. Sri Lanka then suffered a batting collapse, similar to that seen on the opening day of the series and were all out for just 126, giving England a target of 164 to win. This time all 10 wickets went to the spinners, with Bess and Leach taking four each and Root getting the last two with successive deliveries after Sri Lanka had recovered from 78-8.
There was an early wobble with Crawley falling early again and the loss of Root, Bairstow and Lawrence left England on a nervous 89-4 but Dom Sibley produced his best innings of the series with an unbeaten 56, alongside Jos Buttler to guide England to a 6-wicket victory.
Sri Lankan spinner Lasith Embuldeniya ended up on the losing side despite match figures of 10-210.
It's the first time since 2000 that England have won a test away from home after being behind at the end of the 1st innings. It's also the first time in over a century that England have won five tests in a row away from home, going back to last year's series in South Africa.
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Post by suedehead on Jan 25, 2021 19:58:03 GMT 1
How to win a series with just two brilliant days of cricket!
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Post by raliverpool on Jan 25, 2021 21:29:50 GMT 1
An excellent Series win by England. A pity Sri Lanka seem relatively week at the moment, as Lasith Embuldeniya was outstanding for them and nearly solo made a game of it.
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Post by Panda on Jan 25, 2021 21:49:06 GMT 1
An excellent Series win by England. A pity Sri Lanka seem relatively week at the moment, as Lasith Embuldeniya was outstanding for them and nearly solo made a game of it. The Asian teams seem to be placing much more emphasis on limited overs cricket and that showed at times in their shot selection in these matches. India have the talent to still be a force in all forms of the game but Pakistan (away from home at least), Sri Lanka and Bangladesh simply don't at the moment.
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Post by Panda on Feb 1, 2021 5:55:59 GMT 1
The British TV rights for the India series are still to be decided but it's believed a deal could be announced on Monday with Channel 4 reportedly the frontrunners. If they get the deal, it would be their first live test cricket since the 2005 Ashes and the first ever full live coverage of an England overseas test series on terrestrial TV. Channel 4 showed the 2019 World Cup final after Sky decided at short notice to share its coverage, with over 15 million viewers tuning in at some point during the game. Sky shows most England tests but with the rights to the Ashes up for grabs after BT's deal to show Australia's home tests came to an end, it's thought they're prioritising that and are willing to miss out on screening this series.
Talksport has won the radio rights for the series ahead of the BBC.
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Post by Panda on Feb 2, 2021 13:30:51 GMT 1
Channel 4 will show the upcoming series in India, having agreed a deal to broadcast the 4 tests, 5 T20s and 3 ODIs.
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Post by Panda on Feb 3, 2021 19:36:41 GMT 1
Hopefully we'll hear this on Friday:
Play starts at 4am, though the 3rd test is a day/night match and play will begin at 9am UK time, paving the way for some potentially big viewing figures for Channel 4.
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Post by Panda on Feb 5, 2021 4:49:36 GMT 1
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem
England: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Dan Lawrence, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler, Dom Bess, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, James Anderson
England win the toss and are batting first. Joe Root wins his 100th test cap. Burns, Stokes and Archer are in for England. Crawley, Bairstow and Wood are out. Lawrence will bat at 3 with Crawley ruled out through injury. England keep faith with Bess and Leach, meaning no place for Moeen Ali.
The big news of the day is CHANNEL 4 ARE USING MAMBO NO.5!!! It's a shortened version with some hastily cobbled together graphics, so hopefully they are able to put something more substantial together for the 2nd test.
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Post by Panda on Feb 5, 2021 5:15:46 GMT 1
Jasprit Bumrah is winning his 18th test cap but this is his first test match in India.
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Post by Shireblogger on Feb 5, 2021 8:41:49 GMT 1
Hopefully we'll hear this on Friday: Play starts at 4am, though the 3rd test is a day/night match and play will begin at 9am UK time, paving the way for some potentially big viewing figures for Channel 4. I can't find a highlight show. Any ideas if there is one ?
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Post by Panda on Feb 5, 2021 13:42:33 GMT 1
Hopefully we'll hear this on Friday: Play starts at 4am, though the 3rd test is a day/night match and play will begin at 9am UK time, paving the way for some potentially big viewing figures for Channel 4. I can't find a highlight show. Any ideas if there is one ? I believe the highlights are available on demand through All 4 but there's no highlights show on Channel 4 itself.
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Post by Shireblogger on Feb 5, 2021 14:22:21 GMT 1
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Post by Panda on Feb 5, 2021 16:08:53 GMT 1
A strong opening day for England, making use of a good batting pitch after winning the toss.
Joe Root hit an unbeaten 128 as he and Dom Sibley put on 200 for the 3rd wicket. Sibley was out for 87 in the final over the day as England closed on 263-3.
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Post by Panda on Feb 6, 2021 19:38:58 GMT 1
A dominant day for England, finishing on 555-8 after Joe Root made 218. Ben Stokes made a typically flamboyant 82 to put England in a commanding position, with the pitch offering little for the spinners so far.
Root's double hundred was the first by a visiting player in India since 2010. He has now moved up to 3rd on England's all time test run scorers list, overtaking Alec Stewart, and is now just 433 behind Graham Gooch.
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