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Can England defeat Sri Lanka?
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22nd Jan, 2001:
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On February 5th, England begins its tour of Sri Lanka. In their last
visit 8 years ago, Sri Lanka defeated them by 5 wickets in the one-off
Test held at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.
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As only M A Atherton, G A Hick, and A J Stewart from England, and S T Jayasuriya,
M Muratlitharan, and P A de Silva from Sri Lanka, who played in that match, are
likely to represent their respective sides in the current series, it is difficult to attach much
significance to that one-off Test match.
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However, it is about two and a half years since Sri Lanka defeated England
by 10 wickets at The Oval. That match will be remembered by most as
"Muralitharan’s Match" as he produced one of the games great performances
when he bowled Sri Lanka to victory with figures of 7/155 & 9/65. His
performances in that match overshadowed those of team-mates Sanath
Jayasuriya (213), & Aravinda de Silva (152), and those of England’s
Jonathan Crawley (156 not out), and Graeme Hick (107).
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Analysis of team results, and individual performances in the intervening
period may give us some insight into what may happen in the upcoming series.
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Since that match against Sri Lanka, England’s results are:
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Lost 1–2 (5 Test Series Away to Australia Nov/Dec 98)
Lost 1–2 (3 Test Series Home to New Zealand July 99)
Lost 1-2 (5 Test Series Away to South Africa Nov/Dec 99)
Won 1–0 (1 Test Series Home to Zimbabwe May 2000)
Won 3–1 (5 Test Series Home to West Indies June/July 2000)
Won 1–0 (3 Test Series Away to Pakistan Nov/Dec 2000)
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Sri Lanka’s results in the same period are:
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Lost (1999 Asian Championship Dacca to Pakistan March 99)
Won 1–0 (3 Test Series Home to Australia Sept/Oct 99)
Won 1–0 (3 Test Series Away to Zimbabwe Nov/Dec 99)
Won 2–1 (3 Test Series Away to Pakistan Feb/Mar 2000)
Lost 0–2 (3 Test Series Home to Pakistan Jun/July 2000)
Drew 1–1 (3 Test Series Home to South Africa July/Aug 2000)
Lost 0-2 (3 Test Series Away to South Africa Dec/Jan 2000/01)
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Significantly, Sri Lanka (the last team to defeat Australia in a Series)
had good results against Australia and South Africa (both ranked above them in the
HowSTAT Test Rankings)
at home. While England apart from it’s recent win against Pakistan, have
lost to both Australia and South Africa, and the merit of its win against the
West Indies at home has to be questioned due to the West Indies poor "Away record".
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However, cricket like most other team sports is often a game of momentum,
and the current momentum seems to favour England. After losing 3 consecutive
series, it has now won 3 consecutive series, while Sri Lanka after winning
3 consecutive series, has had 2 losses and a draw from it’s last 3 series.
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Analysis of the batting of both sides for the past 2 years gives the edge to
Sri Lanka. P A de Silva (44.18), D P Jayawardene (41.53), S T Jayasuriya (38.14),
M S Atapattu (38.00) having superior averages as a group to those of M A Atherton
(36.35), G P Thorpe (36.06), N Hussain (34.09), M Trescothick (33.90),
A J Stewart (32.90), M P Vaughan (28.69).
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With the pitches in Sri Lanka likely to favour spin, and the matches being
held in the hottest and most humid time of the year, the conditions will
certainly favour Sri Lanka. Their trump spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan
(303 Test wickets @ 25.43) has taken 43 wickets at an average of 17.06 in
their last 5 Test Match victories and the result of the series will largely
depend on whether he performs to his normal level, and how well the English
batsmen can counter his influence.
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In closing, it should be noted that this three test tour by England will be
the first series between these teams which is not simply a one-off test.
While this is to be applauded, it is surely a matter for condemnation that it
has taken 19 years since Sri Lanka's admission as a Test playing nation for this
to occur. England's disdain for Sri Lanka can only be matched by Australia's even
worse treatment of Zimbabwe - only one test match in 8 years and that only last year.
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Approaching Milestones for English Batsmen
A J Stewart needs 33 runs to reach 7,000 in Test Cricket, and move into 7th
place in the all time list of English run scorers, behind G A Gooch (8,900),
D I Gower (8,231), G Boycott (8,114), M C Cowdrey (7,624), M A Atherton (7,280),
and W R Hammond (7,249)
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G P Thorpe needs 21 runs to reach 4,000 runs in Test Cricket.
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