England has a chance
on September 25th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
There is no doubt in my mind that the English team is out of form and is playing below it’s normal strength. They will be up against a SriLankan team which is a favorite for lifting the trophy, the Sri Lankan team is very balanced and has all kinds of weapons their batting has variety and depth their pace bowling is highly skillful and can perform on all kinds of surfaces.
If one analyzes the matchup between the two teams almost everything on paper goes in favor of SriLanka and probably they will win against England but there is only one factor which might help England and that is the venue. The conditions at Wanderers will suit the English team more than the Sri Lankan team, The English fast bowlers have vast experience in exploiting such conditions and their batsmen also have the basic technique to play on such surfaces.
If the match between Pakistan and West Indies was an indication than probably M & M should not pose much danger to England as the pitch did not provided any help to the spinners but this is the first time English players will be facing Mendis in an International match and no body knows how they will deal with him.
The toss will play an important role, the side batting second will have a better chance, it will be low scoring match. Srilanka has won only one match out of the last five they played on this venue, their confidence must be very high after their comfortable victory against the hosts South Africa.
But I am sensing that if England has a chance it is on this venue if their bowlers expoited the conditions and their batsmen showed some determination against M&M they will prevail.
The match almost slipped away from England due to some poor bowling by Onions and Broad. But English Middle order held their nerve and caused an upset victory over SriLanka.
Most of the pundits completely wrote off England but I knew they had a chance because the conditions were more in favor to them than the Lankans. Group B remains wide open I think New Zealand will fail to qualify for the Semis. The race will be between SA , SL and England all three teams need just one more match to win. I think SL and England have a good chance.
English bowlers exploited the conditions earlier on but failed to keep their line and length gifted away two many easy runs Broad and Onions were the main culprits. The wicket is still playing its tricks it will be hard for England to win from here.
Just what I expected, Srilanka are 7/2 both openers are back in the pavillion the English bowelers are using the surface to their advantage. England were lucky to win the toss.