Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Sithara007]

This is turning into a interesting match as now the WI are in full control and its there match to win as SL won't be able to chase down 377. I thought the WI have played well to at least try and get a win here by declaring early on and making SL bat late on day 4, now SL will need to survive the whole day on a day 5 pitch. It will be an exciting end to the match, its a shame that its not on T.V here but I'll see if I can watch it on a stream.

IMO, West Indies delayed the declaration by some 10 overs and it may prove costly to them. On the 4th day, the West Indies bowlers got just 9 overs against the Sri Lankan batsmen. If they got some 15-20 overs, then in all probability they could have at least taken a couple of wickets and the game would have been in their control. In particular, Kraigg Brathwaite was very slow in scoring the runs. They had enough wickets in hand, so it makes no sense to bat in such a slow manner.

[Juggy777]

This is turning into a interesting match as now the WI are in full control and its there match to win as SL won't be able to chase down 377. I thought the WI have played well to at least try and get a win here by declaring early on and making SL bat late on day 4, now SL will need to survive the whole day on a day 5 pitch. It will be an exciting end to the match, its a shame that its not on T.V here but I'll see if I can watch it on a stream.

IMO, West Indies delayed the declaration by some 10 overs and it may prove costly to them. On the 4th day, the West Indies bowlers got just 9 overs against the Sri Lankan batsmen. If they got some 15-20 overs, then in all probability they could have at least taken a couple of wickets and the game would have been in their control. In particular, Kraigg Brathwaite was very slow in scoring the runs. They had enough wickets in hand, so it makes no sense to bat in such a slow manner.

@vella85 WI did play well but sadly it looks like we’re going to see this match end up in a draw as it’s raining out there. Furthermore even if rains stop then too I doubt that WI will be able to take all the 10 wickets, hence for me this match will end in a draw.

More info here:

https://www.cricbuzz.com/live-cricket-scores/35212/wi-vs-sl-2nd-test

[bryant.coleman]

^^^^ If the match ends up as a draw, then West Indies have only themselves to blame. Yesterday they had enough wickets at hand, but they were scoring runs at snail's pace. The scoring rate picked up only after Kyle Mayers got out. Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva tried to push up the run rate, but from one end Kraigg Brathwaite was again dragging it down. To complicate things further, there is a slight chance of rain for today.

[7788bitcoin]

Yesterday they had enough wickets at hand, but they were scoring runs at snail's pace. The scoring rate picked up only after Kyle Mayers got out. Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva tried to push up the run rate, but from one end Kraigg Brathwaite was again dragging it down. To complicate things further, there is a slight chance of rain for today.

West Indies did play a patient innings and they were not looking to win the match, all the were looking was a safe situation where they do not loose the match and now the rains has stopped the match and even though i thought Sri Lanka could last a few sessions and could draw the match now with the rain interruption i am certain that the match will end up in a draw, unless we some outstanding bowling performance from West Indies.

[pakhitheboss]

Yesterday they had enough wickets at hand, but they were scoring runs at snail's pace. The scoring rate picked up only after Kyle Mayers got out. Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva tried to push up the run rate, but from one end Kraigg Brathwaite was again dragging it down. To complicate things further, there is a slight chance of rain for today.

West Indies did play a patient innings and they were not looking to win the match, all the were looking was a safe situation where they do not loose the match and now the rains has stopped the match and even though i thought Sri Lanka could last a few sessions and could draw the match now with the rain interruption i am certain that the match will end up in a draw, unless we some outstanding bowling performance from West Indies.

This match will surely end in a draw, Srilanka will try to drag this match without losing a single wicket. West Indies bowlers need to take a wicket which I think they are struggling to do. The first test was a draw and now the second might be too. Not interested anymore now in this test.

[Vishnu.Reang]

This match will surely end in a draw, Srilanka will try to drag this match without losing a single wicket. West Indies bowlers need to take a wicket which I think they are struggling to do. The first test was a draw and now the second might be too. Not interested anymore now in this test.

Yeah.. looks as if it will end up in a draw. Only around 60 overs remaining now, and Sri Lanka is having all 10 wickets intact. Both Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne are batting really well and the West Indian bowlers are not able to achieve the breakthrough. However, if 2-3 wickets fell in quick time, then the situation can change drastically. Rahkeem Cornwall is getting some turn and the West Indies captain needs to bring back his strike bowlers (Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel & Jason Holder)

[Iranus]

This match will surely end in a draw, Srilanka will try to drag this match without losing a single wicket. West Indies bowlers need to take a wicket which I think they are struggling to do. The first test was a draw and now the second might be too. Not interested anymore now in this test.

Yeah.. looks as if it will end up in a draw. Only around 60 overs remaining now, and Sri Lanka is having all 10 wickets intact. Both Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne are batting really well and the West Indian bowlers are not able to achieve the breakthrough. However, if 2-3 wickets fell in quick time, then the situation can change drastically. Rahkeem Cornwall is getting some turn and the West Indies captain needs to bring back his strike bowlers (Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel & Jason Holder)

Sri Lanka scored 93 runs in 25 overs without losing any wicket. The two opener batsmen are playing great. Thirimanne is unbeaten on 37 and Karunaratne is unbeaten on 54. Sri Lanka needs 284 runs in 60 overs. Sri Lanka does not seem to be battling to win. They want to draw the match, they will be able to draw the match easily.

[ene1980]

Sri Lanka does not seem to be battling to win. They want to draw the match, they will be able to draw the match easily.

Both the team played for a draw in this match too, they played slowly in the last match and ended up in a draw and the same tempo is seen here in this match as well. Sri Lanka needs 208 runs more to win and they probably will be having 25 overs to reach that total and it is an impossible task considering they are going at well under a run rate of 2.5 and they have 8 wickets in hand and they might bowl 10 more overs and end the match.

[teosanru]

Sri Lanka does not seem to be battling to win. They want to draw the match, they will be able to draw the match easily.

Both the team played for a draw in this match too, they played slowly in the last match and ended up in a draw and the same tempo is seen here in this match as well. Sri Lanka needs 208 runs more to win and they probably will be having 25 overs to reach that total and it is an impossible task considering they are going at well under a run rate of 2.5 and they have 8 wickets in hand and they might bowl 10 more overs and end the match.

Sri Lanka never tried for a win in my Opinion. The moment they realized West Indies are declaring after a target of 300+ it was at that moment they decided that this match isn't really playable. Otherwise, 80 overs is enough time to look for 379. This series couldn't really help us decide which is the worst test cricket playing nation  I really thought we would get the second-worst team in Test Cricket. Sri Lanka would now play against Bangladesh where Bangladesh would try and prove that they aren't the worst test-playing nation.  I think these series amongst teams at an equal level are more interesting. Even this SL-WI series could have had more matches.

[vella85]

This is turning into a interesting match as now the WI are in full control and its there match to win as SL won't be able to chase down 377. I thought the WI have played well to at least try and get a win here by declaring early on and making SL bat late on day 4, now SL will need to survive the whole day on a day 5 pitch. It will be an exciting end to the match, its a shame that its not on T.V here but I'll see if I can watch it on a stream.

IMO, West Indies delayed the declaration by some 10 overs and it may prove costly to them. On the 4th day, the West Indies bowlers got just 9 overs against the Sri Lankan batsmen. If they got some 15-20 overs, then in all probability they could have at least taken a couple of wickets and the game would have been in their control. In particular, Kraigg Brathwaite was very slow in scoring the runs. They had enough wickets in hand, so it makes no sense to bat in such a slow manner.

Not sure if the 10 overs would of helped as SL were able to bat the whole day and only lost 2 wickets. We don't know for sure as anything could of happened in them 10 overs but going by how SL were able to bat out a full day shows that it might of still ended in a draw or even a SL win. We got a fair idea that this would be a draw after the end of day 2, it seemed that both teams were playing for the draw at different stages of the match and even though the WI did declare as you said they batted for too long.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

Not sure if the 10 overs would of helped as SL were able to bat the whole day and only lost 2 wickets. We don't know for sure as anything could of happened in them 10 overs but going by how SL were able to bat out a full day shows that it might of still ended in a draw or even a SL win. We got a fair idea that this would be a draw after the end of day 2, it seemed that both teams were playing for the draw at different stages of the match and even though the WI did declare as you said they batted for too long.

West Indies was happy with the draw and so does Sri Lanka and i thought Sri Lanka to start well and try to chase down the total at a good run rate and if they loose wickets then they should look for a draw as the pitch was not doing much and they could easily defend but they never tried winning and leveling the series which is unfortunate as the old Sri Lankan team would have went for the win first rather than a draw.

[Sithara007]

Not sure if the 10 overs would of helped as SL were able to bat the whole day and only lost 2 wickets. We don't know for sure as anything could of happened in them 10 overs but going by how SL were able to bat out a full day shows that it might of still ended in a draw or even a SL win. We got a fair idea that this would be a draw after the end of day 2, it seemed that both teams were playing for the draw at different stages of the match and even though the WI did declare as you said they batted for too long.

Well.. both the teams were targeting a draw, so it doesn't matter much. I though that West Indies had a chance if they made the declaration after scoring some quick runs. But the West Indian batsmen were too slow, and the declaration came with less than 10 overs remaining in the 4th day. And when Sri Lanka came to bat, there was no real effort from the West Indian bowlers to take quick wickets. Even part time bowlers such as Kyle Mayers and Jermaine Blackwood were called up to bowl.

[JSRAW]

Not sure if the 10 overs would of helped as SL were able to bat the whole day and only lost 2 wickets. We don't know for sure as anything could of happened in them 10 overs but going by how SL were able to bat out a full day shows that it might of still ended in a draw or even a SL win. We got a fair idea that this would be a draw after the end of day 2, it seemed that both teams were playing for the draw at different stages of the match and even though the WI did declare as you said they batted for too long.

West Indies was happy with the draw and so does Sri Lanka and i thought Sri Lanka to start well and try to chase down the total at a good run rate and if they loose wickets then they should look for a draw as the pitch was not doing much and they could easily defend but they never tried winning and leveling the series which is unfortunate as the old Sri Lankan team would have went for the win first rather than a draw.

Srilankans were very clear about drawing the match from the very start, guess they didn't even think about chasing the target. 2 back to back draws seems boring in the modern times when teams are pushing for result. Was reading somewhere that its the first series after 2015 which ended up all draw games.

[RamBahadur.Gurung]

Srilankans were very clear about drawing the match from the very start, guess they didn't even think about chasing the target. 2 back to back draws seems boring in the modern times when teams are pushing for result. Was reading somewhere that its the first series after 2015 which ended up all draw games.

In general the series was very boring. Main players such as Pollard and Russell were not playing for West Indies and for both the teams the scoring rate was very low. It looked as if they are just playing these matches for formality, just to get around the requirements of world test championship. Both these teams are not very good in the longer format. On the other hand the ODI/T20I matches were somewhat OK.

[7788bitcoin]

Srilankans were very clear about drawing the match from the very start, guess they didn't even think about chasing the target. 2 back to back draws seems boring in the modern times when teams are pushing for result. Was reading somewhere that its the first series after 2015 which ended up all draw games.

It is a fact that after the introduction of T20 cricket the game has changed a lot and anyone who has the ability to play a standard patient innings is rare in the game and i do think the T20 has changed every player and so is the reason we are seeing fewer draws in Test cricket as well. The West Indies and Sri Lanka team right now might not have players who are molded in the T20 format and so is the reason we are not seeing any aggressive game play.

[Sithara007]

Srilankans were very clear about drawing the match from the very start, guess they didn't even think about chasing the target. 2 back to back draws seems boring in the modern times when teams are pushing for result. Was reading somewhere that its the first series after 2015 which ended up all draw games.

It is a fact that after the introduction of T20 cricket the game has changed a lot and anyone who has the ability to play a standard patient innings is rare in the game and i do think the T20 has changed every player and so is the reason we are seeing fewer draws in Test cricket as well. The West Indies and Sri Lanka team right now might not have players who are molded in the T20 format and so is the reason we are not seeing any aggressive game play.

I don't think the outcome has anything to do with influence from T20. It was actually very simple. It looked as if both the teams were happy with the draw. None of these two teams made a serious attempt to chase the total or get the other team bowled out. The spectators lose out in the end, as it looked as if the players themselves were bored with the match and was playing just because it was scheduled by their respective boards.

[ene1980]

In general the series was very boring. Main players such as Pollard and Russell were not playing for West Indies and for both the teams the scoring rate was very low. It looked as if they are just playing these matches for formality, just to get around the requirements of world test championship. Both these teams are not very good in the longer format. On the other hand the ODI/T20I matches were somewhat OK.

Pollard and Russel are not in the Test team for a long time as they are focusing mainly on the shorter format and they are playing in franchise cricket around the world and they usually give priority to that rather than playing for their national team. West Indies needs to develop new talents and it is good to see new faces are taking the responsibility and they need to find match winning bowlers if they want to compete against strong teams.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

The West Indies and Sri Lanka team right now might not have players who are molded in the T20 format and so is the reason we are not seeing any aggressive game play.

The cricket board will not mold any players to become aggressive. I think they have the perfect batting line up for Test matches and i am impressed with they way Sri Lanka played in the last two matches and somehow managed to draw the match and both these teams are experimenting with new players and give them some time and we might see good players emerging from these countries as we have seen some good defensive batting from some of the players in both teams.

[7788bitcoin]

~
I don't think the outcome has anything to do with influence from T20. It was actually very simple. It looked as if both the teams were happy with the draw. None of these two teams made a serious attempt to chase the total or get the other team bowled out. The spectators lose out in the end, as it looked as if the players themselves were bored with the match and was playing just because it was scheduled by their respective boards.

I am not referring to the West Indies Sri Lanka series as matches were slow paced than usual and we have not seen drawn matches in a long time and in that context i said the reason we are not seeing those boring drawn matches is because the mindset of the players have changed tremendously and now players are not afraid to play aggressive cricket and if a total is huge the teams will first try to achieve that before going for a draw.

[Sithara007]

The cricket board will not mold any players to become aggressive. I think they have the perfect batting line up for Test matches and i am impressed with they way Sri Lanka played in the last two matches and somehow managed to draw the match and both these teams are experimenting with new players and give them some time and we might see good players emerging from these countries as we have seen some good defensive batting from some of the players in both teams.

As far as West Indies is concerned, we can say that they are producing enough young talent. Their major issue is not the lack of talent, but the unavailability of players due to their participation in various franchise T20 leagues abroad. On the other hand, after Lasith Malinga and Kumar Sangakkara retired, Sri Lanka is not able to produce players who have the necessary qualities to replace them. It is understandable, since their player pool is small (as a result of small population). Also, their domestic structure is in bad shape.