Like most people's expectations, The Sri Lankan side swept away the tour winning the sole T20 international and taking away the One day and Test Legs 3-2 and 1-0 respectively. But those are just numbers. They don't say anything at all unless you saw the matches or read all the scorelines. England have probably outdone themselves after having a Horrible season before the World T20 which itself wasn't great.
The English side have been in the spotlight even before the series started as they prepared for life after KP, Trott and Swann. With new and young players stepping in, the English weren't expected to win anyway. But what they did, was commendable. Ignoring the T20 which seemed like a game played for the sake of it after the IPL and World T20 though it was a very close affair and a highscoring game as the Lankans took it away by 7 runs. The ODI series couldn't have been better. The margins of the series seemed as if the teams had their days. The English won their games by 81 runs and 10 wickets while getting all down for 99 runs once. The Lankans on the other hand won by 7 runs, 157 runs and the final ODI by 6 wickets while getting shot out for 67 runs once. What does this say? Both teams had their days and Sri Lanka had their day going into the final match clinching the series 3-2.
Star Performers? The batsmen should get NOTHING for this. 8 half centuries and 2 centuries between 9 batsmen. Pure inconsistency and showed that every inning it was just one batsman carrying the whole team on his shoulders. Dilshan high scored with 222 runs in 5 innings which isn't very good though he was the only one with 2 half centuries. Bowlers? Even worse. Only 1 bowler got more than 10 wickets in the entire series and that was Chris Jordan with 12 wickets. Some might say that it was team work and all of them got the wickets together but frankly, only 3/4th of the wickets fell in the entire series so that simply means that it was all round scoring from the batsmen and not much from the bowlers. Jos Buttler was the surprise package of the series. Scoring a century and other small knocks coming in at No. 7, he is taking his role very seriously and well for the English.
The Test series was a similar story when it came to results. Both tests went very close with England missing out by a wicket as the first test went draw and Sri Lanka picking up the last English wicket with a Ball to spare after heroic efforts from Jimmy Anderson scoring nothing from 55 balls, just standing there at the crease. The test series was enjoyed by both batsmen and bowlers with the Batsmen getting 7 centuries and 11 half centuries in 8 innings while the bowling unit picking up 75 of the available 80 wickets.
Stars? Sangakkara is still the go to man for Sri Lanka. Scoring more than a half century in all 4 innings, he top scored in the tournament and produced some wonderful knocks in his last games for the Lankans. Jimmy Anderson on the other side picked up the bowling plaudits with 12 wickets grabbing a 5 wicket haul and leading the English quicks from the front. There were many surprises too. 160 and 4 wickets from all rounder Mathews, centuries from Balance, Ali and Robson. Rise in the form of Eranga while the return of Liam Plunkett, this series had it all that you need to understand the importance of Test Cricket.
What went horribly wrong? Alistair Cook. The English Captain had a tour to forget. With just a half century in the 4th ODI, Cook had nothing to offer in the entire tour than his captaincy. It is high time that he performs or it wouldn't be just Shane Warne criticizing him but probably the ECB as well.
What Ahead? Its India against the English and with the young English guns performing well, it seems that the Indians will have some contest as they look for revenge for 2011.
-Kothi
The English side have been in the spotlight even before the series started as they prepared for life after KP, Trott and Swann. With new and young players stepping in, the English weren't expected to win anyway. But what they did, was commendable. Ignoring the T20 which seemed like a game played for the sake of it after the IPL and World T20 though it was a very close affair and a highscoring game as the Lankans took it away by 7 runs. The ODI series couldn't have been better. The margins of the series seemed as if the teams had their days. The English won their games by 81 runs and 10 wickets while getting all down for 99 runs once. The Lankans on the other hand won by 7 runs, 157 runs and the final ODI by 6 wickets while getting shot out for 67 runs once. What does this say? Both teams had their days and Sri Lanka had their day going into the final match clinching the series 3-2.
Star Performers? The batsmen should get NOTHING for this. 8 half centuries and 2 centuries between 9 batsmen. Pure inconsistency and showed that every inning it was just one batsman carrying the whole team on his shoulders. Dilshan high scored with 222 runs in 5 innings which isn't very good though he was the only one with 2 half centuries. Bowlers? Even worse. Only 1 bowler got more than 10 wickets in the entire series and that was Chris Jordan with 12 wickets. Some might say that it was team work and all of them got the wickets together but frankly, only 3/4th of the wickets fell in the entire series so that simply means that it was all round scoring from the batsmen and not much from the bowlers. Jos Buttler was the surprise package of the series. Scoring a century and other small knocks coming in at No. 7, he is taking his role very seriously and well for the English.
The Test series was a similar story when it came to results. Both tests went very close with England missing out by a wicket as the first test went draw and Sri Lanka picking up the last English wicket with a Ball to spare after heroic efforts from Jimmy Anderson scoring nothing from 55 balls, just standing there at the crease. The test series was enjoyed by both batsmen and bowlers with the Batsmen getting 7 centuries and 11 half centuries in 8 innings while the bowling unit picking up 75 of the available 80 wickets.
Stars? Sangakkara is still the go to man for Sri Lanka. Scoring more than a half century in all 4 innings, he top scored in the tournament and produced some wonderful knocks in his last games for the Lankans. Jimmy Anderson on the other side picked up the bowling plaudits with 12 wickets grabbing a 5 wicket haul and leading the English quicks from the front. There were many surprises too. 160 and 4 wickets from all rounder Mathews, centuries from Balance, Ali and Robson. Rise in the form of Eranga while the return of Liam Plunkett, this series had it all that you need to understand the importance of Test Cricket.
What went horribly wrong? Alistair Cook. The English Captain had a tour to forget. With just a half century in the 4th ODI, Cook had nothing to offer in the entire tour than his captaincy. It is high time that he performs or it wouldn't be just Shane Warne criticizing him but probably the ECB as well.
What Ahead? Its India against the English and with the young English guns performing well, it seems that the Indians will have some contest as they look for revenge for 2011.
-Kothi