Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Sithara007]

Srilanka batting completely flopped in first innings and that's the reason they lost the game. New Zealand won the series 2-0 after this victory. Blair Tickner bowling was impressive as he picked 1 wikcet in first and 3 wickets in second innings. Srilanka was never in the match after New Zealand declared there innings for 580. Now we have 3 ODIs and 3 Test coming after this series.

Blair Tickner picked up 4 wickets during the second test, but at the same time he conceded a total of 105 runs. I can say that he was OK during the second match. But in the first test, he was completely out of sorts and conceded more than 200 runs. As a result, Tim Southee and Matt Henry had to take over most of the bowling responsibilities. Anyway, New Zealand won the series thanks to their batting. Without players such as Kane Williamson, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell, the Kiwis would have never won the series. 

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[pakhitheboss]

I never expected Srilanka to win the test series against NZ. I would also like to add that I never expected them to lose the way they lost. I expected them to draw the series if not the lose in a dignified way. It seem they have become a pathetic test playing nation and for sure this situation would get more worse. The Srilankan board cannot sit idle in this situation. They need few players who can play test cricket. I don't think the present team is capable in playing test matches anymore.

[Mahdirakib]

I never expected Srilanka to win the test series against NZ. I would also like to add that I never expected them to lose the way they lost. I expected them to draw the series if not the lose in a dignified way. It seem they have become a pathetic test playing nation and for sure this situation would get more worse. The Srilankan board cannot sit idle in this situation. They need few players who can play test cricket. I don't think the present team is capable in playing test matches anymore.

Sri Lankan test squad isn't such weak that they need to bring significant changes in their team. They had the capability to qualify for the WTC final, where New Zealand had no chance for it. It was unfortunate that Sri Lankan players have batted pathetically in the first innings. But they have quality players in their squad.

[Minecache]

However Sri Lanka managed to play better in the second innings. The first innings performance was really bad. Expected Mendis to contribute good, but he lost his wicket soon after his 50 runs. Nothing to blame, bowling didn't work for Sri Lanka which kept the New Zealand players at good position to score. Being on the home crowd keep them even more confidence.
It was predicted that Sri Lanka would win both the test matches and reach WTC, but things didn't went as the prediction. In the first match people predicted it all because of the match being in the control of Sri Lanka and everything changed in the final day with the massive performance from Williamson.

The second test was an absolute disaster for Sri Lanka. In the end, they did try to make a comeback. But it was basically impossible. The first test was more of a competitive one. Kane Williamson was just too good in the first one. It was actually surprising to me that Sri Lanka was unable to win even one test match.

Sri Lankan quality is going down day by day which is surely big problem for them with now Angelo Mathews is also getting older who is good all-rounder for them, but they are not having any suitable replacement which will bring improvement with their domestic system is providing good players, but they are not polished for the big games which give them good results and having some better honor in few years they are having many issues which are giving them headache, and they are not able to set their best teams in all formats even in shorter formats they are doing better but still things need big changes from start if they want to have better things and not fall down like Zimbabwe and West Indies they need to work on these issues quickly because if as time is running out they can face more problems for having better performance.

Sri Lanka is losing the grasp that they had over 5-day cricket. Honestly, the previous generation of Sri Lanka had a lot of really great and talented players. But if we look at the Sri Lankan squad now, I cannot say that they are made for test cricket. They might do a lot better in other formats but not in the longer format.

[jostorres]

I never expected Srilanka to win the test series against NZ. I would also like to add that I never expected them to lose the way they lost. I expected them to draw the series if not the lose in a dignified way. It seem they have become a pathetic test playing nation and for sure this situation would get more worse. The Srilankan board cannot sit idle in this situation. They need few players who can play test cricket. I don't think the present team is capable in playing test matches anymore.

Sri Lankan test squad isn't such weak that they need to bring significant changes in their team. They had the capability to qualify for the WTC final, where New Zealand had no chance for it. It was unfortunate that Sri Lankan players have batted pathetically in the first innings. But they have quality players in their squad.

There is no doubt about Sri Lankan quality in all formats of cricket but sadly right now they are having issues which needs to be fixed before having anything positive in last few years they are suffering badly in big events and their performance is also not good away from home which is the big problem after end of first test match there were hopes we will have another close encounter between these two teams but suddenly their batting lost momentum and this bring them down which was not recoverable even in second inning they have done good work but still lost match by big margin.

They have too many legendary players which can settle things for better results but for this all they need to have good changes in their system which fail to produce match winners in last few years if they are able to fix this surely things could be back at the top of this game.

[Sithara007]

I never expected Srilanka to win the test series against NZ. I would also like to add that I never expected them to lose the way they lost. I expected them to draw the series if not the lose in a dignified way. It seem they have become a pathetic test playing nation and for sure this situation would get more worse. The Srilankan board cannot sit idle in this situation. They need few players who can play test cricket. I don't think the present team is capable in playing test matches anymore.

For sure their performance was disappointing overall. However, they performed really well during the first test. In the second test, for the first few hours they had the advantage, but then the partnership between Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls took the match out of their hands (3rd wicket partnership was worth 363 runs). And then Matt Henry destroyed the Lankan batting with his raw pace. Still I would say that their performance was somewhat credible against one of the pig-4 teams. There is still a lot of room for improvement though.

[justdimin]

For sure their performance was disappointing overall. However, they performed really well during the first test. In the second test, for the first few hours they had the advantage, but then the partnership between Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls took the match out of their hands (3rd wicket partnership was worth 363 runs). And then Matt Henry destroyed the Lankan batting with his raw pace. Still I would say that their performance was somewhat credible against one of the pig-4 teams. There is still a lot of room for improvement though.

It's time for them to work on their domestic set up because they are still having plenty of players which can bring better results and their performance could be back as they have few years back but now first it's time to sit and talk about their issues which are preventing them to improve this all.

After skipping captaincy, Kane Williamson is now more dangerous player which is helping his team for having good runs on board in every test match and this change is helping them with few new batsmen are also doing good which is going to be good for them in near future because as they are performing most chances in next WTC they will be back in the best shape, and we have better results after this poor time which give them worst results and few finals to lost against Australia and England.

[Tony116]

For sure their performance was disappointing overall. However, they performed really well during the first test. In the second test, for the first few hours they had the advantage, but then the partnership between Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls took the match out of their hands (3rd wicket partnership was worth 363 runs). And then Matt Henry destroyed the Lankan batting with his raw pace. Still I would say that their performance was somewhat credible against one of the pig-4 teams. There is still a lot of room for improvement though.

I have to say in the first test, Sri Lanka was unlucky. Because that test match could have gone either way. Ken Williamson was the one who made the difference between these two teams. If it was not for Kane Williamson and anyone else, it could easily be a win for Sri Lanka. The match went to the last ball and New Zealand snatched the win from Sri Lanka. But in the second test, it was not even a competition.

It's time for them to work on their domestic set up because they are still having plenty of players which can bring better results and their performance could be back as they have few years back but now first it's time to sit and talk about their issues which are preventing them to improve this all.
After skipping captaincy, Kane Williamson is now more dangerous player which is helping his team for having good runs on board in every test match and this change is helping them with few new batsmen are also doing good which is going to be good for them in near future because as they are performing most chances in next WTC they will be back in the best shape, and we have better results after this poor time which give them worst results and few finals to lost against Australia and England.

Sri Lanka has been through a lot in recent times. I believe it will take a little time for them to get everything fixed. So the domestic setup is going to take a little time to be fixed. I did not expect too much in the test format from Sri Lanka. Especially because they are going against New Zealand.

[Sithara007]

Sri Lanka has been through a lot in recent times. I believe it will take a little time for them to get everything fixed. So the domestic setup is going to take a little time to be fixed. I did not expect too much in the test format from Sri Lanka. Especially because they are going against New Zealand.

Sri Lanka doesn't have a proper domestic setup. Instead of a first class structure where different regional sides compete, they have a competition between the Colombo-based clubs. There is hardly any cricket structure outside the capital city, although there are some very beautiful international cricket stadiums in some of the outer cities such as Galle and Dambulla. Even establishing franchises for the Lanka Premier League outside Colombo hasn't helped much. After the LPL, domestic cricket just moves back to the capital city.

[BobK71]

I have to say in the first test, Sri Lanka was unlucky. Because that test match could have gone either way. Ken Williamson was the one who made the difference between these two teams. If it was not for Kane Williamson and anyone else, it could easily be a win for Sri Lanka. The match went to the last ball and New Zealand snatched the win from Sri Lanka. But in the second test, it was not even a competition.

The Sri Lankan team did not perform in the second test as they did in the first test. Although they lost the first test by a small margin but they suffered a big defeat in the second test. Double centuries from Williamson and Henry Nicholls prevented Sri Lanka from taking control of the 2nd Test match. New Zealand won 2-0. However, the ODI series between these two teams is going to start tomorrow, where Sri Lanka will try to come back to some extent.

[wiss19]

Sri Lanka has been through a lot in recent times. I believe it will take a little time for them to get everything fixed. So the domestic setup is going to take a little time to be fixed. I did not expect too much in the test format from Sri Lanka. Especially because they are going against New Zealand.

Sri Lanka doesn't have a proper domestic setup. Instead of a first class structure where different regional sides compete, they have a competition between the Colombo-based clubs. There is hardly any cricket structure outside the capital city, although there are some very beautiful international cricket stadiums in some of the outer cities such as Galle and Dambulla. Even establishing franchises for the Lanka Premier League outside Colombo hasn't helped much. After the LPL, domestic cricket just moves back to the capital city.

This is big disadvantage to them even they have population near to Australia and three time greater than New Zealand, but they are not able to have good domestic cricketing set up which can give them good revenue and good players as well now they are improving their domestic things even right now situation is completely near the disaster but still they can do better things in sports which can give them good sponsorships with they are one of the best tourist destination for millions of tourists.

Recently they have good thing with having few good new cricket grounds which are helping them for having good increase in their fan base and improving cricket structure I remember few years back we have all games in Colombo but now Hambantuta, Galle, Dambulla and Kandy are also doing good for the cricket fans.

[LDL]

The Sri Lankan team did not perform in the second test as they did in the first test. Although they lost the first test by a small margin but they suffered a big defeat in the second test. Double centuries from Williamson and Henry Nicholls prevented Sri Lanka from taking control of the 2nd Test match. New Zealand won 2-0. However, the ODI series between these two teams is going to start tomorrow, where Sri Lanka will try to come back to some extent.

Sri Lanka lost the first Test against New Zealand in a very competitive game. In the first test, no batsman could stand up except Williamson towards the end and they almost lost due to nerves but Williamson scored a century and finally won the first test. But in the second Test, Sri Lanka lost to New Zealand by an innings. But it is imperative to mention that Ken Williamson was in great form in the two Tests and scored a double century in the first innings of the second Test. However, in tomorrow's ODI match, New Zealand will be looking to maintain their form but Sri Lanka will be looking to avenge their Test defeat in the ODIs.

[elevates]

Sri Lanka doesn't have a proper domestic setup. Instead of a first class structure where different regional sides compete, they have a competition between the Colombo-based clubs. There is hardly any cricket structure outside the capital city, although there are some very beautiful international cricket stadiums in some of the outer cities such as Galle and Dambulla. Even establishing franchises for the Lanka Premier League outside Colombo hasn't helped much. After the LPL, domestic cricket just moves back to the capital city.

This was a problem and still today this is the problem! Every player comes from a few clubs based in Colombo. Who is to be blamed? Obviously, it is the Srilankan Board as they do not have any vision like the previous government of Srilanka. Ultimately it is Srilanka that faced an economic crisis and the same would happen to Srilankan cricket. We all need to just wait and watch as in the coming years Srilanka as a team would struggle a lot.

[BobK71]

The Sri Lankan team did not perform in the second test as they did in the first test. Although they lost the first test by a small margin but they suffered a big defeat in the second test. Double centuries from Williamson and Henry Nicholls prevented Sri Lanka from taking control of the 2nd Test match. New Zealand won 2-0. However, the ODI series between these two teams is going to start tomorrow, where Sri Lanka will try to come back to some extent.

Sri Lanka lost the first Test against New Zealand in a very competitive game. In the first test, no batsman could stand up except Williamson towards the end and they almost lost due to nerves but Williamson scored a century and finally won the first test. But in the second Test, Sri Lanka lost to New Zealand by an innings. But it is imperative to mention that Ken Williamson was in great form in the two Tests and scored a double century in the first innings of the second Test. However, in tomorrow's ODI match, New Zealand will be looking to maintain their form but Sri Lanka will be looking to avenge their Test defeat in the ODIs.

If Williamson and Henry Nicholls of the New Zealand team did not make double centuries in the second Test match, the margin of victory of the match would have been reduced. Their incredible performance helped the team reach their goals with ease. However, the Sri Lankan batsmen could not play very well at the New Zealand venue. They will try to stay ahead in the ODI match tomorrow. But I have doubts as to how well Sri Lanka can excel. In short overs games, if the full 50 overs can be played with having the wicket, it is not unusual to give a big target. Sri Lanka may try to play with this thought.

[Tony116]

Sri Lanka doesn't have a proper domestic setup. Instead of a first class structure where different regional sides compete, they have a competition between the Colombo-based clubs. There is hardly any cricket structure outside the capital city, although there are some very beautiful international cricket stadiums in some of the outer cities such as Galle and Dambulla. Even establishing franchises for the Lanka Premier League outside Colombo hasn't helped much. After the LPL, domestic cricket just moves back to the capital city.

This is big disadvantage to them even they have population near to Australia and three time greater than New Zealand, but they are not able to have good domestic cricketing set up which can give them good revenue and good players as well now they are improving their domestic things even right now situation is completely near the disaster but still they can do better things in sports which can give them good sponsorships with they are one of the best tourist destination for millions of tourists.

Recently they have good thing with having few good new cricket grounds which are helping them for having good increase in their fan base and improving cricket structure I remember few years back we have all games in Colombo but now Hambantuta, Galle, Dambulla and Kandy are also doing good for the cricket fans.

Sri Lanka cricket is not actually being able to generate enough interest for the fans. The players are not the international superstars which people expect to see. At least not so much like the previous Sri Lankan squad which had Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Malinga, and other very good players. This team is nothing compared to that. Those players were able to actually bring in a huge amount of support from all around the world. But right now the only people who are supporting Sri Lanka are Sri Lankans. So the quality of the players has to improve.

[jostorres]

Sri Lanka doesn't have a proper domestic setup. Instead of a first class structure where different regional sides compete, they have a competition between the Colombo-based clubs. There is hardly any cricket structure outside the capital city, although there are some very beautiful international cricket stadiums in some of the outer cities such as Galle and Dambulla. Even establishing franchises for the Lanka Premier League outside Colombo hasn't helped much. After the LPL, domestic cricket just moves back to the capital city.

This was a problem and still today this is the problem! Every player comes from a few clubs based in Colombo. Who is to be blamed? Obviously, it is the Srilankan Board as they do not have any vision like the previous government of Srilanka. Ultimately it is Srilanka that faced an economic crisis and the same would happen to Srilankan cricket. We all need to just wait and watch as in the coming years Srilanka as a team would struggle a lot.

Visions needs big money, but sadly Sri Lanka is having long civil war and the recently their corrupt rulers not allowed to have any better facility and improvement in life expeditions which are also important for having better results in all aspects of sports and other departments even Sri Lanka is having one of the best literacy rate in this region, but sadly things are never been suitable for domestic and international business which is also important for them with Sri Lanka is fourth-largest producer of tea in the world and also having many other things but sadly their business model is never been ideal which give them better things due to corruption so with this all we can't expect big changes in near future as well.

[Sithara007]

Visions needs big money, but sadly Sri Lanka is having long civil war and the recently their corrupt rulers not allowed to have any better facility and improvement in life expeditions which are also important for having better results in all aspects of sports and other departments even Sri Lanka is having one of the best literacy rate in this region, but sadly things are never been suitable for domestic and international business which is also important for them with Sri Lanka is fourth-largest producer of tea in the world and also having many other things but sadly their business model is never been ideal which give them better things due to corruption so with this all we can't expect big changes in near future as well.

Civil war ended more than a decade ago, with the defeat of the LTTE. It can no longer be said as an excuse for not having a proper domestic setup. The issues faced by Sri Lanka is similar to the one that is faced by Bangladesh. In both the countries, domestic cricket is dominated by cricket clubs rather than region-based teams. The clubs don't want to lose the power that they are already enjoying. As a result they always sabotage the plans to establish a region-based system. But without a region-based system, staying competitive at the highest level is near to impossible.

[romero121]

Visions needs big money, but sadly Sri Lanka is having long civil war and the recently their corrupt rulers not allowed to have any better facility and improvement in life expeditions which are also important for having better results in all aspects of sports and other departments even Sri Lanka is having one of the best literacy rate in this region, but sadly things are never been suitable for domestic and international business which is also important for them with Sri Lanka is fourth-largest producer of tea in the world and also having many other things but sadly their business model is never been ideal which give them better things due to corruption so with this all we can't expect big changes in near future as well.

Civil war ended more than a decade ago, with the defeat of the LTTE. It can no longer be said as an excuse for not having a proper domestic setup. The issues faced by Sri Lanka is similar to the one that is faced by Bangladesh. In both the countries, domestic cricket is dominated by cricket clubs rather than region-based teams. The clubs don't want to lose the power that they are already enjoying. As a result they always sabotage the plans to establish a region-based system. But without a region-based system, staying competitive at the highest level is near to impossible.

Various reasons can be cited as for the Srilanka cricket team's lack in performance. Till 2015 Sri Lanka was a big competitor and with the retirement of senior players like Sangakara everything started to collapse. The team didn't had the right guidance and the board kept changing captains as there is none to make a winning better than the seniors. Since 2015 Sri Lanka have suffered to reach Semifinals on ICC tournaments. Financial cricis is there, the pay cut for the players is high. Almost 30% annual pay cut for the players surely gives them pressure and can't perform well. Everything is upon the time, look at Australia they're king of cricket once now things have changed. Over time we can expect better performance from Srilanka.

[Sithara007]

Various reasons can be cited as for the Srilanka cricket team's lack in performance. Till 2015 Sri Lanka was a big competitor and with the retirement of senior players like Sangakara everything started to collapse. The team didn't had the right guidance and the board kept changing captains as there is none to make a winning better than the seniors. Since 2015 Sri Lanka have suffered to reach Semifinals on ICC tournaments. Financial cricis is there, the pay cut for the players is high. Almost 30% annual pay cut for the players surely gives them pressure and can't perform well. Everything is upon the time, look at Australia they're king of cricket once now things have changed. Over time we can expect better performance from Srilanka.

Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga were the last world class players to represent Sri Lanka. The current squad contains players like Wanindu Hasaranga and Angelo Mathews, but I will not consider them as world class players, due to their inconsistency. Some how Sri Lanka has slipped behind other test nations, and one of the reasons may be the factor that I mentioned in my previous post (club-based domestic system). The rout should be stemmed before it is too late, else it will be difficult to justify their full member status.

[LittleBitFunny]

Various reasons can be cited as for the Srilanka cricket team's lack in performance. Till 2015 Sri Lanka was a big competitor and with the retirement of senior players like Sangakara everything started to collapse. The team didn't had the right guidance and the board kept changing captains as there is none to make a winning better than the seniors. Since 2015 Sri Lanka have suffered to reach Semifinals on ICC tournaments. Financial cricis is there, the pay cut for the players is high. Almost 30% annual pay cut for the players surely gives them pressure and can't perform well. Everything is upon the time, look at Australia they're king of cricket once now things have changed. Over time we can expect better performance from Srilanka.

Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga were the last world class players to represent Sri Lanka. The current squad contains players like Wanindu Hasaranga and Angelo Mathews, but I will not consider them as world class players, due to their inconsistency. Some how Sri Lanka has slipped behind other test nations, and one of the reasons may be the factor that I mentioned in my previous post (club-based domestic system). The rout should be stemmed before it is too late, else it will be difficult to justify their full member status.

You are right. After players like Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga and Sanath Jayasuriya went on retreatment I have not seen any world-class players in the Sri Lankan squad. The Sri Lankan board has completely failed to find suitable replacements for their star players. Mathews is a very talented player. But he cannot help the team responsibly and at the moment when the team needs it. Also, Sri Lanka's bowling line-up is quite weak now. Spin and pace are not doing well anywhere. A good performance is not expected from the Sri Lankan team in the upcoming ODI World Cup.