Kamlesh Barjati
Banned
- Joined
- 26 May 2011
- Messages
- 1,087
- Reaction score
- 31
Alastair Cook demonstrated the value of a batsman who can bed down for a full 50 overs, as he responded to his many critics with a determined and vital 119 from 143 balls. It was his second ODI hundred and his first in six innings as England captain, but for all its individual merits, it nevertheless came as part of a team performance that was some way short of par on a typically true Lord's wicket, and in perfect sunny conditions for run-making.
The par score at Lord's may be 235, but against a line-up as accomplished and experienced as Sri Lanka's, England's final total of 246 for 7 seemed some 40 runs short. Aside from Kevin Pietersen, who once again looked in prime form without translating his stay into a major contribution, none of England's batsmen were able to impose themselves on the situation, and nor did they really seek to either. The true value of Cook's vigil can only be judged in hindsight, but at the midway point of the match, it had raised as many questions as it had answered.
After the failure of their pursuit of 310 at Leeds, England resisted the temptation to tinker with their line-up, but Cook this time opted to set a target rather than chase one. The early overs, however, set an unfortunate precedent for an innings that never ignited. Though Cook himself prevented the run-rate from stalling with five boundaries in the first Powerplay, all square of the wicket, his first two partners, Craig Kieswetter and Jonathan Trott, managed five singles from 26 balls between them to reduce the tempo to a crawl.
With Lasith Malinga opening up with an arrow-straight maiden, Kieswetter was never allowed to settle. He had been limited to three singles in 12 balls when he was completely hoodwinked by a slower ball on a perfect length that looped off a leading edge to mid-on. His replacement Trott fared no better, and in a fretful stay he might have run himself out going for his second run, a scampered single to Dilshan at mid-off. Instead, one over later, Dilshan caught him in that position instead, as he over-balanced in a lofted drive off Suranga Lakmal.
Cook had one major let-off, on 15, when Mahela Jayawardene shelled a Nuwan Kulasekara offcutter at first slip. But the arrival of Pietersen transformed his previously ambitious approach, as he sat back at the non-striker's end during the second Powerplay, and watched his partner bat as if he had a point to prove, and time to make up. Out of the 32 runs in the block of five overs, Cook's contribution was a solitary single off Kulasekara.
It needed the arrival of Pietersen to transform England's intent. In one over from Lakmal he pounded three fours in a row, and was only denied a fourth when his superbly timed pull fizzed straight to the sweeper on the midwicket boundary. He added two more fours in Lakmal's next over, one courtesy of a misfield from Dilshan at mid-off, and then finished the Powerplay with a robust pull off a Kulasekara long-hop.
However, the introduction of the spinners slowed England's tempo once again. Jeevan Mendis and Suraj Randiv stemmed the boundary flow and induced the error, as Pietersen climbed into a slog-sweep but top-edged his stroke to deep midwicket. It was the third time in three innings that he had fallen to Mendis, and two overs later, the legspinner had doubled his tally, when Morgan missed a quicker, straighter delivery, and was rapped on the pad in front of middle and leg.
At 88 for 4 after 22 overs, England had neither runs on the board nor wickets in hand, although Cook did keep the home fires burning with a brace of leg-side fours as Malinga returned to the attack, the second of which brought up his fifty from 69 balls. Ian Bell, however, endured a grim time in the middle. England's form player of the Test series limped to 30 from 46 balls with no boundaries and just two shots in anger. The first, a smear into the leg-side off Mendis, dropped just short of deep midwicket; the second, a wild uppercut off Lakmal, looped gently to third man to end his awkward stay.
Tim Bresnan's value as an agricultural No. 7 came to the fore in an eighth-wicket stand of 75 in 11.5 overs, in which time Cook brought up his hundred from 127 balls, at the end of the 45th over, with a pushed single off Randiv. But Cook's subsequent attempts to clear the boundary betrayed the shortcomings in his one-day game, as he regularly lost his shape while winding up for the big shot.
Cook was badly dropped at point by Thilina Kandamby off Malinga on 103, and though he finally connected with two fours through midwicket in the 49th over to give the run-rate a belated jolt, he was run out in the same over as Bresnan called him through for a non-existent single. Bresnan was then yorked by Malinga at the start of the 50th over, but Graeme Swann swiped ten runs from the last two balls of the innings, including the first six of the innings over midwicket, to finish the innings with some momentum.
England 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.
Sri Lanka 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-sri-lanka-2011/content/story/521817.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
The par score at Lord's may be 235, but against a line-up as accomplished and experienced as Sri Lanka's, England's final total of 246 for 7 seemed some 40 runs short. Aside from Kevin Pietersen, who once again looked in prime form without translating his stay into a major contribution, none of England's batsmen were able to impose themselves on the situation, and nor did they really seek to either. The true value of Cook's vigil can only be judged in hindsight, but at the midway point of the match, it had raised as many questions as it had answered.
After the failure of their pursuit of 310 at Leeds, England resisted the temptation to tinker with their line-up, but Cook this time opted to set a target rather than chase one. The early overs, however, set an unfortunate precedent for an innings that never ignited. Though Cook himself prevented the run-rate from stalling with five boundaries in the first Powerplay, all square of the wicket, his first two partners, Craig Kieswetter and Jonathan Trott, managed five singles from 26 balls between them to reduce the tempo to a crawl.
With Lasith Malinga opening up with an arrow-straight maiden, Kieswetter was never allowed to settle. He had been limited to three singles in 12 balls when he was completely hoodwinked by a slower ball on a perfect length that looped off a leading edge to mid-on. His replacement Trott fared no better, and in a fretful stay he might have run himself out going for his second run, a scampered single to Dilshan at mid-off. Instead, one over later, Dilshan caught him in that position instead, as he over-balanced in a lofted drive off Suranga Lakmal.
Cook had one major let-off, on 15, when Mahela Jayawardene shelled a Nuwan Kulasekara offcutter at first slip. But the arrival of Pietersen transformed his previously ambitious approach, as he sat back at the non-striker's end during the second Powerplay, and watched his partner bat as if he had a point to prove, and time to make up. Out of the 32 runs in the block of five overs, Cook's contribution was a solitary single off Kulasekara.
It needed the arrival of Pietersen to transform England's intent. In one over from Lakmal he pounded three fours in a row, and was only denied a fourth when his superbly timed pull fizzed straight to the sweeper on the midwicket boundary. He added two more fours in Lakmal's next over, one courtesy of a misfield from Dilshan at mid-off, and then finished the Powerplay with a robust pull off a Kulasekara long-hop.
However, the introduction of the spinners slowed England's tempo once again. Jeevan Mendis and Suraj Randiv stemmed the boundary flow and induced the error, as Pietersen climbed into a slog-sweep but top-edged his stroke to deep midwicket. It was the third time in three innings that he had fallen to Mendis, and two overs later, the legspinner had doubled his tally, when Morgan missed a quicker, straighter delivery, and was rapped on the pad in front of middle and leg.
At 88 for 4 after 22 overs, England had neither runs on the board nor wickets in hand, although Cook did keep the home fires burning with a brace of leg-side fours as Malinga returned to the attack, the second of which brought up his fifty from 69 balls. Ian Bell, however, endured a grim time in the middle. England's form player of the Test series limped to 30 from 46 balls with no boundaries and just two shots in anger. The first, a smear into the leg-side off Mendis, dropped just short of deep midwicket; the second, a wild uppercut off Lakmal, looped gently to third man to end his awkward stay.
Tim Bresnan's value as an agricultural No. 7 came to the fore in an eighth-wicket stand of 75 in 11.5 overs, in which time Cook brought up his hundred from 127 balls, at the end of the 45th over, with a pushed single off Randiv. But Cook's subsequent attempts to clear the boundary betrayed the shortcomings in his one-day game, as he regularly lost his shape while winding up for the big shot.
Cook was badly dropped at point by Thilina Kandamby off Malinga on 103, and though he finally connected with two fours through midwicket in the 49th over to give the run-rate a belated jolt, he was run out in the same over as Bresnan called him through for a non-existent single. Bresnan was then yorked by Malinga at the start of the 50th over, but Graeme Swann swiped ten runs from the last two balls of the innings, including the first six of the innings over midwicket, to finish the innings with some momentum.
England 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.
Sri Lanka 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-sri-lanka-2011/content/story/521817.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
