Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Negotiation]

The host Sri Lanka defeated Ireland by an innings and 280 runs on the third day of the first Test of the series. Ireland turned around in the second test at the end of the first day of the match, the Irish collected 319 runs for 4 wickets none managed to score three figures. Irish captain Andrew Balberney missed the century by just 5 runs. Besides, there are two more fifties in Ireland's innings. But regarding the series against Ireland, the Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne said, although an inexperienced team, Ireland is gradually improving.

[WatChe]

A fighting knock from Harry Tector towards the end, but once he got out, Irish defense died down. These two youngsters - Harry Tector and Lorcan Tector will be playing a very crucial role for Ireland in the future, especially in the test format. Harry Tector has made 285 runs so far in test cricket, at an average of 47.50. And that came in matches played under extremely hostile conditions. Lorcan Tucker on the other hand has 289 test runs to his name, at an average of 48.16. If they had received some support from the other batsmen, then Ireland could have put up a decent performance.

The skipper Andy Balbirnie was unlucky in both innings as he missed out hundred in first innings while fifty in second innings. Apart from Harry Tector and Andy Balbirnie there is no one in Irish batting lineup who showed any seriousness towards batting. Ireland scored almost 500 runs in first innings and were bowled out for just 202 runs. Lot of things for Ireland to learn from this series and ICC must continue to give test cricket exposure to teams like Afghanistan and Ireland. That's the only way how new teams can join test format. 

[n0ne]

The host Sri Lanka defeated Ireland by an innings and 280 runs on the third day of the first Test of the series. Ireland turned around in the second test at the end of the first day of the match, the Irish collected 319 runs for 4 wickets none managed to score three figures. Irish captain Andrew Balberney missed the century by just 5 runs. Besides, there are two more fifties in Ireland's innings. But regarding the series against Ireland, the Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne said, although an inexperienced team, Ireland is gradually improving.

We ourselves can see the improvement in the Ireland team's performance. There is big difference between the first and the second match. In the first test match Ireland wasn't able to reach 200+ runs. In the second test match Ireland played much better, based on its first innings performance it looked like a draw match. Fortunately Ireland wasn't able to perform well as the first innings. Only few matches played and Ireland trying to draw the match against an established Sri Lankan test team is a big improvement. These teams needs to be scheduled for more test matches that could help them improve.

[Shan85]

The host Sri Lanka defeated Ireland by an innings and 280 runs on the third day of the first Test of the series. Ireland turned around in the second test at the end of the first day of the match, the Irish collected 319 runs for 4 wickets none managed to score three figures. Irish captain Andrew Balberney missed the century by just 5 runs. Besides, there are two more fifties in Ireland's innings. But regarding the series against Ireland, the Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne said, although an inexperienced team, Ireland is gradually improving.

2nd Test match Sri Lanka beat Ireland by an innings and 10 runs. It is encouraging to see emerging talent for Ireland in the test format such as Harry Tector and Lorcan Tector. The Tector brothers have demonstrated great promise with their performances, despite the defeat in the second Test match against Sri Lanka. In test cricket Harry and Lorcan have respective batting averages of 47.50 and 48.16, demonstrating their value as batsmen.
The player of the match is Prabath Jayasuriya for his amazing bowling performance in 1st inning picking up 5 wickets by giving 174 runs and 2nd the inning picking up 2 wickets by just giving 88 runs and the player of the series is Kusal Mendis for his amazing performance 245 runs scored in the first inning and won the series by 2-0.

[BobK71]

The host Sri Lanka defeated Ireland by an innings and 280 runs on the third day of the first Test of the series. Ireland turned around in the second test at the end of the first day of the match, the Irish collected 319 runs for 4 wickets none managed to score three figures. Irish captain Andrew Balberney missed the century by just 5 runs. Besides, there are two more fifties in Ireland's innings. But regarding the series against Ireland, the Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne said, although an inexperienced team, Ireland is gradually improving.

Ireland lost the Test series by a big margin against Sri Lanka but they had good start in the 2nd Test and I think they have done well as Test cricketers and if they get a chance to play Test cricket consistently they can gain more experience. Next Jun 01 Ireland team will play a test match against England. If this way they get a chance with the strong team then they can be known as one of the best teams in Test cricket in the future. Perhaps being a weak team, they won't get more than one or two Test matches on any tour. The number of matches is less but they will gradually gain experience from that positions.

[Litzki1990]

Ireland visited Sri Lanka to play only two Test matches. But in both the Test matches, Ireland lost badly against Sri Lanka.  In the first match, Sri Lanka scored 591 runs for 6 wickets against Ireland, but Ireland failed to score in 2 innings. And they lost the first match by a huge margin of an innings and 280 runs. 

In the second test, I thought maybe Ireland would turn around, with the aim of turning around, Ireland was able to score 492 runs in the first innings against Sri Lanka. After their innings of 492 runs, it seemed that Sri Lanka might suffer a batting disaster in this match. But in the second innings Sri Lanka declared 704 runs for three wickets and Ireland returned to bat in the second innings. Whereas in the second innings Ireland managed to score only 202 runs and in the second test they were defeated by an innings and 10 runs. 
The tour to Sri Lanka has been a complete failure for Ireland

[MusaPk]

Ireland lost the Test series by a big margin against Sri Lanka but they had good start in the 2nd Test and I think they have done well as Test cricketers and if they get a chance to play Test cricket consistently they can gain more experience. Next Jun 01 Ireland team will play a test match against England. If this way they get a chance with the strong team then they can be known as one of the best teams in Test cricket in the future. Perhaps being a weak team, they won't get more than one or two Test matches on any tour. The number of matches is less but they will gradually gain experience from that positions.

Ireland have lots of cricket coming up this year. Next Month Bangladesh is coming to Ireland for 3 ODIs followed by Ireland tour to England for 1 Test and 3 ODIs. Its penalty of cricket for Irish team to gain experience from. Its because of poor show of Irish Batsmen in second innings that result in loss of the test. More International cricket they play more they will learn.

[Learn Bitcoin]

Sirlanka have been outstanding in these test matches,  their batting was outclass and so is balling specially that young boy Prabath Jayasuriya he has been great will balling and washed Ireland batting lineup. 
Ireland should work on their team to give a good game to its fans.

I did not watch the match Between Sri Lanka and Ireland. But, After seeing the scorecard, I was shocked. Sri Lanka Was struggling against every team a few months ago. I did not watch their first test either. But, Considering how they come back is really outstanding. Two double centuries and another two centuries from a single inning. That was incredible. I don't have to mention their names. First four batters everyone did very well batting. It seems Irish bowlers were helpless. I don't know if they were able to create some chances. But credit goes to Sri Lankan batters. Well done.

[Mahdirakib]

Currently, they are trailing by 135 runs which mean we need 35 to 40 overs for covering this difference and then surely another 40 to 50 overs for having 200+ target which can give them good chance to home side, but now all things depend on weather which is not good for the last two days of play.

Sri Lanka has declared their first innings with a lead of 212 runs, then they managed to take all the wickets of Ireland within the first two sessions of the final day. I didn't expect Ireland to lose this match as they played well in the first innings. I had placed a small bet on draw after the day 3, The outcome odds were 1.02× only . Ireland players have to practice a lot to do better in Test format.

[JSRAW]

A fighting knock from Harry Tector towards the end, but once he got out, Irish defense died down. These two youngsters - Harry Tector and Lorcan Tector will be playing a very crucial role for Ireland in the future, especially in the test format. Harry Tector has made 285 runs so far in test cricket, at an average of 47.50. And that came in matches played under extremely hostile conditions. Lorcan Tucker on the other hand has 289 test runs to his name, at an average of 48.16. If they had received some support from the other batsmen, then Ireland could have put up a decent performance.

That's why i am in favor of them playing more tests every year (if they have Test Nation status).

If these guys (Afghans and Irish) start playing 5-8 tests every year then in the next 5 years we'll definitely see plenty of improvement and this will have a fair amount of trickle effect into their domestic 4 days cricket as well.

[Marvell1]

Currently, they are trailing by 135 runs which mean we need 35 to 40 overs for covering this difference and then surely another 40 to 50 overs for having 200+ target which can give them good chance to home side, but now all things depend on weather which is not good for the last two days of play.

Sri Lanka has declared their first innings with a lead of 212 runs, then they managed to take all the wickets of Ireland within the first two sessions of the final day. I didn't expect Ireland to lose this match as they played well in the first innings. I had placed a small bet on draw after the day 3, The outcome odds were 1.02× only . Ireland players have to practice a lot to do better in Test format.

Sri Lanka already won the match by an innings and also 10 runs. It was the last day of the test match and only if Ireland was able to hold on a little longer they would have been able to get a draw from this test match. That would have been an achievement for them to be honest.

But the Sri Lankan bowling attack was a little too good for them. I have to give credit to Sri Lanka because it was certainly not easy to get all the 10 wickets before the end of the test match. Actually, they had to get 20. So it is certainly a good performance from Sri Lanka even though the opponent was not such a big one.

[noormcs5]

Currently, they are trailing by 135 runs which mean we need 35 to 40 overs for covering this difference and then surely another 40 to 50 overs for having 200+ target which can give them good chance to home side, but now all things depend on weather which is not good for the last two days of play.

Sri Lanka has declared their first innings with a lead of 212 runs, then they managed to take all the wickets of Ireland within the first two sessions of the final day. I didn't expect Ireland to lose this match as they played well in the first innings. I had placed a small bet on draw after the day 3, The outcome odds were 1.02× only . Ireland players have to practice a lot to do better in Test format.

Maybe Ireland did not expect to be 212 runs behind after making 492 runs in the first innings. In the 2nd innings, they took the pressure and lost the wickets quickly resulting in losing the match.

See the Srilankan innings for a while and you will see Nishan Madushka making 205 runs, Kusal Mendis making 245 runs along with a couple of hundreds by the other two batsmen. Srilankan team dominated the match and eventually, the team Ireland with less experience fail to save this match.

[Vaskiy]

Currently, they are trailing by 135 runs which mean we need 35 to 40 overs for covering this difference and then surely another 40 to 50 overs for having 200+ target which can give them good chance to home side, but now all things depend on weather which is not good for the last two days of play.

Sri Lanka has declared their first innings with a lead of 212 runs, then they managed to take all the wickets of Ireland within the first two sessions of the final day. I didn't expect Ireland to lose this match as they played well in the first innings. I had placed a small bet on draw after the day 3, The outcome odds were 1.02× only . Ireland players have to practice a lot to do better in Test format.

Maybe Ireland did not expect to be 212 runs behind after making 492 runs in the first innings. In the 2nd innings, they took the pressure and lost the wickets quickly resulting in losing the match.

See the Srilankan innings for a while and you will see Nishan Madushka making 205 runs, Kusal Mendis making 245 runs along with a couple of hundreds by the other two batsmen. Srilankan team dominated the match and eventually, the team Ireland with less experience fail to save this match.

During the Sri Lanka innings, every player who lost the wicket went to the pavilion with a century. This is big and Sri Lanka well used the match against Ireland. The team that performed well got pressure looking at the score of 704/3d. This happens when they're new to the test format cricket. In the second innings of the match Ireland could've gone for some aggressive batting performance, atleast better scoring could've happened.

[Sithara007]

That's why i am in favor of them playing more tests every year (if they have Test Nation status).

If these guys (Afghans and Irish) start playing 5-8 tests every year then in the next 5 years we'll definitely see plenty of improvement and this will have a fair amount of trickle effect into their domestic 4 days cricket as well.

IMO, none of the teams should play more than 4-5 test matches per year. Outside the Border-Gavaskar and Ashes, there is hardly any interest for test cricket. And we saw how the series between Ireland and Sri Lanka turned out. It was very much one-sided. Smaller teams can remain competitive in limited overs format, and not in test format. That is why I am not in favor of matches between the lower tier test teams and the more experienced ones. 1-2 matches every year would make sense. But teams like Ireland needs to play more against similar teams, like Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.

[JSRAW]

That's why i am in favor of them playing more tests every year (if they have Test Nation status).

If these guys (Afghans and Irish) start playing 5-8 tests every year then in the next 5 years we'll definitely see plenty of improvement and this will have a fair amount of trickle effect into their domestic 4 days cricket as well.

IMO, none of the teams should play more than 4-5 test matches per year. Outside the Border-Gavaskar and Ashes, there is hardly any interest for test cricket. And we saw how the series between Ireland and Sri Lanka turned out. It was very much one-sided. Smaller teams can remain competitive in limited overs format, and not in test format. That is why I am not in favor of matches between the lower tier test teams and the more experienced ones. 1-2 matches every year would make sense. But teams like Ireland needs to play more against similar teams, like Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.

In the last WTC cycle (2 years)

Bongs played 12 tests.
Kiwis played 13 tests + 2 extra tests against England, these extra matches were not included in WTC.
Windies -13 tests
Pakistan -14 tests

So most of the test nations already play only 6-7 tests every year, which is very close to your benchmark. I doubt if it'll go down for a couple of WTC cycles.

My argument is if ICC hands out Test status then it should be mandatory to play at least 5 tests every year (On opponents we can argue but it doesn't matter much as long as they are getting a real match experience), otherwise, there is no use of test status if we sideline the funding drama.

[Sithara007]

In the last WTC cycle (2 years)

Bongs played 12 tests.
Kiwis played 13 tests + 2 extra tests against England, these extra matches were not included in WTC.
Windies -13 tests
Pakistan -14 tests

So most of the test nations already play only 6-7 tests every year, which is very close to your benchmark. I doubt if it'll go down for a couple of WTC cycles.

My argument is if ICC hands out Test status then it should be mandatory to play at least 5 tests every year (On opponents we can argue but it doesn't matter much as long as they are getting a real match experience), otherwise, there is no use of test status if we sideline the funding drama.

Once again, funding should be separate from test status. It is not the right thing to provide funding of $12 million per year to Zimbabwe (just because they have test status) and $200,000 to Nepal (because they don't have test status). If performance is the benchmark, then Nepal should be getting higher funding compared to Zimbabwe. And IMO, WTC cycle should be stretched to 3-4 years. Playing 12-14 matches in two years can be tough for smaller teams like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. With test status, it can be made mandatory to play 16-20 matches in a 4-year period. In a single year, I don't think that any limit can be enforced.

First of all, test nations should have separate squads for limited overs and test format.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

So most of the test nations already play only 6-7 tests every year, which is very close to your benchmark. I doubt if it'll go down for a couple of WTC cycles.

My argument is if ICC hands out Test status then it should be mandatory to play at least 5 tests every year (On opponents we can argue but it doesn't matter much as long as they are getting a real match experience), otherwise, there is no use of test status if we sideline the funding drama.

Once again, funding should be separate from test status. It is not the right thing to provide funding of $12 million per year to Zimbabwe (just because they have test status) and $200,000 to Nepal (because they don't have test status). If performance is the benchmark, then Nepal should be getting higher funding compared to Zimbabwe. And IMO, WTC cycle should be stretched to 3-4 years. Playing 12-14 matches in two years can be tough for smaller teams like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. With test status, it can be made mandatory to play 16-20 matches in a 4-year period. In a single year, I don't think that any limit can be enforced.

First of all, test nations should have separate squads for limited overs and test format.

12-14 test matches only take 70 days schedule from 2 years, even if you add an extra one month for traveling etc it's only 100 days of test cricket. Also don't forget results within 3-4 days are becoming quite common in test cricket.

4-year cycle for WTC sounds way too much to me for many reasons, for starters player's availability. Let's say Player A is 30 and top of his game, 4 years wait for the WTC final is a big ask, even for teams

Well IMO having a different team for every format is a luxury, not many cricket boards can afford that.

[Sithara007]

12-14 test matches only take 70 days schedule from 2 years, even if you add an extra one month for traveling etc it's only 100 days of test cricket. Also don't forget results within 3-4 days are becoming quite common in test cricket.

Nowadays schedule is jam-packed. If you spend 100 days on test cricket over 2 years, then I am afraid that many of the top players will just retire from test cricket and concentrate on T20Is and franchise leagues. Already some of the IPL franchises are in discussions with a few of the top international players, to sign exclusive contracts with them.

4-year cycle for WTC sounds way too much to me for many reasons, for starters player's availability. Let's say Player A is 30 and top of his game, 4 years wait for the WTC final is a big ask, even for teams

Then reduce the number of teams and keep the cycle to 2-3 years. One division should have only 5 teams. Each team plays against each other twice or thrice, for a total of 8 to 12 matches in 2-3 years. That will work.

Well IMO having a different team for every format is a luxury, not many cricket boards can afford that.

It is more like a necessity now, with increasing number of players opting to retire from test format.

[JSRAW]

12-14 test matches only take 70 days schedule from 2 years, even if you add an extra one month for traveling etc it's only 100 days of test cricket. Also don't forget results within 3-4 days are becoming quite common in test cricket.

Nowadays schedule is jam-packed. If you spend 100 days on test cricket over 2 years, then I am afraid that many of the top players will just retire from test cricket and concentrate on T20Is and franchise leagues. Already some of the IPL franchises are in discussions with a few of the top international players, to sign exclusive contracts with them.

On 100 days schedule (70 for tests + 30 for travel),30 days travel timeline is for white-ball cricket as well, if not all bilateral white-ball series then at least it covers 50-60% of bilateral. Virtually no team complains about their schedule when they play 12-14 tests in 2 year cycle, in fact, they ask for more tests.

Schedule complaints mostly come from Aus+Eng+Ind, mainly from England and India.

Franchises contacting players for a full year is a different issue. It's only lucrative for senior players, case in point Boult. He recently declined the national contract. I am sure the franchise will face a backlash from all boards if they try to steal younger players like Brook, Green etc. Although it's a good setup for one format players (T-20). 

4-year cycle for WTC sounds way too much to me for many reasons, for starters player's availability. Let's say Player A is 30 and top of his game, 4 years wait for the WTC final is a big ask, even for teams

Then reduce the number of teams and keep the cycle to 2-3 years. One division should have only 5 teams. Each team plays against each other twice or thrice, for a total of 8 to 12 matches in 2-3 years. That will work.

Folks sitting at the top are not interested in the relegation system.

Well IMO having a different team for every format is a luxury, not many cricket boards can afford that.

It is more like a necessity now, with increasing number of players opting to retire from test format.

If players take retirement after serving 6-7 years or a decade in Test cricket then I don't see it as a problem and if some players come to the realization that they are not cut out for Test cricket then it's also good.

But yeah everyone should have a problem with Amir's way (Pakistani bowler).   

[Sithara007]

Folks sitting at the top are not interested in the relegation system.

LOL.. this is the root cause of all the problems. Current system guarantees that once test status is provided, it can't be taken away. No matter how poorly a team performs, the test status remains with them. And this results in poor standards for test cricket. If teams are confident that even if they perform poorly nothing will happen to them, then why they should put that extra effort to improve their performance? And the biggest joke is that although the ICC has linked fund allocation to performance for the associate nations, they are refusing to implement the same with test nations.

BTW, Ashes is about to start in less than 2 months from now. IMO, this is the most premier series in test cricket and I would prefer to watch Ashes over BGT anytime of the day.