yorkslanka..Of course the bowlers mentioned were inadequate..The English press dubbed them 'toothless' & toothless they have remained since playing OZ & Pak. BTW Welegedara is 30 & has been at it for some time.... WI were great since Learie Constantine up to Lara's retirement & thats a real long time. And yes WI ARE a small country in terms of resources & size. Their board is not one of the rich cricket boards & thats why Gayle talked himself out of the team to play lucrative IPL. WI decline has been attributed by many to the influence of better cash earning prospects in baseball and athletics. I am not running down your SL team. They did suberbly from 96 till recently but the replacements they come up with now have been ineffective 4 whatever reason....

Posted by   on (December 3, 2011, 17:34 GMT)

Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Kaushal Silva (wk), Lahiru Thirimanne, Dimuth Karunaratne, Chanaka Welegedara, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Pradeep, Thisara Perera, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, Thilan Samaraweera.

Posted by   on (December 3, 2011, 17:01 GMT)

@Nadun Jayathilaka, It's Remarkable isn't it, Even Steyn's worst figures are still better than all the Sri Lankan Bolwers Overall Career figures ;) It's about time for steyn to change those figures which is pretty Ordinary for his own standards :) Come On Steyn waiting for ur 250 :D

@lord emsworth ~ i dont uderstand your comment"sl cant play the small nation card forever", why not, our country isnt growing any?surely you must agree that in terms of resources, we are not at the same level as Ind/Eng/SA/Aus and probably sit in the same bracket as NZ/WI/Pak? You said that WI produced greats and that's right, look at their team of the 80's; not one team can match the efforts of not losing a series for 15 years but they are also in a regrowth phase and are not what they used to be...in terms of the bowlers i mentioned who you saw against england,did they do THAT bad, considering that most of them didn't have more than one years experience of playing at the top level? Dont get me wrong, I am not one of these people who proclaims "we are the best..." all I am saying is that these bowlers will need time to get experience and i honestly believe it will come- but it will take time..doesnt help having a poor captain and bad administration to boot.. as for me, i bleed SL mate

Posted by   on (December 3, 2011, 11:02 GMT)

dale styen has poor records against sri lanka. he was in team when mahela and sanga built a 624 partnership...

styen average against SL in Test - 36.50 Economy rate is also very high - 4.72

Go lanka Go.. You can face Poor styen..

Posted by   on (December 3, 2011, 8:19 GMT)

Are they faking or what ?..How can all these players get injured like this !. On the other hand its funny the people from Chapathi land who were humiliated by 8-0 loss in England talking about SL`s inability to play out side SL !

Sri Lanka are going to struggle to get to the 5th day of the tests,they have to hope for rain to prevent them being embarassed.Jayawardene and Sangakkara really struggled on previous tours to S.A.The last time Ntini really exposed their weaknesses against the short ball.Kepler Wessels is correct in saying that the SA 'A' team will destroy Sri Lanka.

yorkslanka...Admire your persistent chirpy optimism and staunch support of the SL team... However SL cant play the 'small nation' card forever. West Indies were/are a small nation too...Yet look at their 'greats'..Too many to even mention. I watch SL whenever they tour the UK. Dont live in old Blighty but close enough in Europe. I have seen most of the bowlers you mention (Junior & Senior teams) and none of them in my opinion are going to catch the cricket world on fire.... No, its either that the well is really dry or Duleep Mendis cant see em, or he is being steamrollered by.....?

Though SL lost some of their bowlers they still have a very strong team. Dilshan, Paranavithara, Sangakkara, Jayawardane, Samaraweera, Mathews, Silva(wk), Herath, Welagedara, Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep. This team can easily beat SA and I hope SL will win the test series 2-0

Posted by   on (December 2, 2011, 12:57 GMT)

Good team from sri lankan side,,but Taranga must in & para out is better than this,anyway they will change the current conditions surely,,