A little bit late to the party, a bit like Birmingham, but if you have any comments on the play today, feel free to jot them down here – along with any comments on the current test match between Sri Lanka and India.
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Being Outside Cricket 
As a Northants fan, I have absolutely no comment to make until the match is over. Shtum is the word, and all fingers are crossed.
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BBCradio5livextra… bit of the first, none of the second, then the final…
Warks such a poor start.. 14-4.. Willey 3wkts, recovering (sort of) 103 -4 (18)
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Following on cricinfo, it seems another slow, low turner of a pitch. Often the case for Finals’ Day unfortunately. Could favour Lanky’s phalanx of spinners.
Go TMN!
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Is the style of pitch the result of it needing to last 3 games whilst not changing too much?
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Could well be, hatmallet. Plus the early start that could lead to a seamer’s paradise for the first semi, if there’s any grass on the pitch. I remember Northants getting rolled by Lancs in a NatWest final once – game over by 11.00 am.
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Also seen someone on Twitter say that Birmingham has had days of rain this week, keeping the pitch under covers and reducing the preparation time.
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Splendid century by Pujara in Colombo. Always good to see a class player who’s been out of form and favour getting it back together.
Two days gone and rain has meant the first innings is still not complete. A drawn match and a drawn series look favourites at the moment.
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Pujara finished 145* which makes him the first opener to carry his bat for a century since Warner in 2011 (by my reckoning). Like Warner’s, it was very much a lone-hand with the next highest score so far from the other 21 players in the game a mere 59.
SL recovered somewhat from 47/6 but have still conceded a first innings’ lead of over a hundred and a result is still possible if the ground can dodge most of the forecast heavy showers. Damp and humid conditions are helping the seamers with Ishant Sharma doing most of the damage.
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And in the time it took to write that Pradeep has bowled both Indian openers…..
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The wickets were shared between Pradeep (Rahul), and Prasad (Pujara).
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My apologies to Prasad – it was an absolute jaffa to bowl Pujara as well.
And, as excitement threatens to break out, it starts to rain….
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The Sri Lanka top order went AWOL and reached the dizzy heights of 47/6. The tail bailed Sri Lanka somewhat out, and they managed to post 201 (wicketkeeper Perera chipping in with 55 and Herath with 49). A deficit of 111.
Pujara, who carried his bat in the first innings (only the 4th Indian to do so), was out for a second ball duck. Rahul, the other opener gone as well. So 2/2 now (or +113/2), and the game is open again.
Prasad, he of a Test which Sri Lanka are rumoured to have won in 2014 in England, battling with injuries but really fighting it out.
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Pradeep takes care of Rahane. India 7/3 now (+118/3). That is really putting the cat among the pigeons …
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This is why domestic 20/20 will always fall short in this country in my opinion.
20/20 needs hot weather and flat bouncy pitches. Quite why this is being played within days of September I don’t know? Isn’t it usualy played end of July? I don’t follow it very closely.
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It may be T20 finals day, but don’t miss Lovejoy on Pointless Celebrities at 7pm!
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I’m with Father Jack….
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Maybe this one is better….
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He’s through to round two, because Blowers and Ebony Rainford-Brent have joined the 200 club.
And he’s just got a pointless answer….
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He’s been knocked out: it’s Tuffers and Vaughan v Aggers and Melinda Farrell.
Good outcome.
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Cricket Pointless today? Who f*ckin’ scheduled that? Incredible foot-shooting again ( or BBC malevolence).
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Barmy isn’t it? First of a brand new series as well, so they have plenty in the can to choose from.
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Well worth the licence fee on it’s own.
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Why Croft persists in batting before Faulkner with only 4-5 overs left is beyond me – but I have to say, Lancashire won and won well – well done the red rose – Lilley should be MOM
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Congrats to any Lanky fans on a deserved victory. Considerable number of cool heads in a young team that held on well to the early advantage from the start of their innings to the end of the match. I’m disappointed, but very pleased to see two Division two teams put on a decent final having seen off the Div one teams in the semis.
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As a Hampshire fan this was my 6th finals day in a row. We were terrible and as nice as it is to get there I don’t know why I bothered. We were beaten fairly but that pitch was shocking for what’s supposed to be a showpiece day. I realise that there are some counties that would love to get there just once but think it’s time for separate semis and a final.
My other complaint today was of concern about how long it took to get around the ground today. I definitely don’t want to sound like an elf n safety bore but the Raglan Stand does not have adequate entrance and exit points, Took 15 minutes to get out from my seat to out of the stand with queues going nowhere. Behind the stand too took too long to go anywhere and we were in a crush slowly moving to exits.
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Newman:
“Morgan was integral to England’s startling turnaround against New Zealand after new director of cricket Andrew Strauss had put faith in him to remain at the one-day helm despite looking out of his depth at the World Cup”.
Don’t you just love the way an apparent tribute to Morgan morphs into a homage to Strauss? And the way Morgan was “out of his depth” at the WC as opposed to merely out of form or perhaps burdened with a clueless coach?
Anyway, who did the genius Strauss ignore when he kept the faith with Morgan as captain? Who was doing all he could to get Morgan heave-hoed? Who wrote, on 29th April just before the Ireland ODI:
“James Taylor captains England in the absence of Eoin Morgan, whose long-term future as one-day captain should be brought into question.
England gave permission for anyone signed by the Indian Premier League to miss this game but Morgan had by then replaced Alastair Cook for the World Cup and should have sought his release once he had been drafted by Hyderabad Sunrisers. He could have travelled from India to Ireland and back in five days.
If his IPL franchise did not agree to his temporary absence then Morgan, who rarely plays in the IPL, should have put country first.
The indications are that Morgan, who had a dismal World Cup, will return to lead England in their one-day series against New Zealand in June but England should think hard before restricting Taylor’s leadership to one game…..
Coach Peter Moores and his assistant Paul Farbrace will travel to Dublin from Barbados at the end of the Test to arrive in time for the game, emphasising how important they feel it is.
It is a great shame that the England captain does not feel the same”.
And that was by far not the only comment or Tweet on the same line.
Yes, praise the Lord we have Strauss as Director Comma ignoring Newman’s idiot advice.
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Looks even more like a draw in Colombo given the latest weather forecast.
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There has not been as much of a rain interruption and India have nearly reached 200 in their 2nd innings for the loss of 7 wickets and are now over 300 ahead, I guess they will either get bowled out soon or look to have the last hour to bowl at Sri Lanka.
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SL 67/3 at the close needing another 319 or to hold out for 98 overs (assuming no weather interruptions – heavy showers are forecast).
A miracle from Mathews or rain are going to be needed to save SL here. Pakistan pulled off something similar in the last Test of SL’s last series but it’s difficult to see lightning striking twice. A good team effort from India today with some less-than-universally-popular players like the Sharmas and Stuart Binny making important contributions. Ishant Sharma also put in an amusingly beserk display of losing his rag after SL bounced out Yadav.
One curious feature of this series has been the poor opening batting. The highest partnership has been only 15 which is a record low for a three or more Test series. The average first wicket partnership has been the lowest for any series with ten or more innings (beating the previous worst which was – surprisingly – SA v E in 95/96).
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