Should Chandi bat at no 6?

The test that pre-maturely ended in Chester-le-Street yesterday was a pretty good start for Sri Lanka. It was the first time the young team put together a fight against a major team with their bats. Loss was already decided on second day, and there is no need to lament on that - it was England in England [like New Zealand in New Zealand]. Death was written all over when we lagged 397 runs as we followed on. But the fact that they made England bat again, and gave them some target to bat for, is amazing. Brilliant Chandimal knock with contributions from few others, especially from Herath

However I've gotta say that if not for fielding mishaps both sides won't get that far. So we've gotta wait and see whether it was a fluke or not. 

In the past I thought Chandimal should be batting at no 4, even when he made his debute as a no 7 wicket keeper batsman. He had every feature of a no 4. But... after few years now, I think he lacks one such feature. That is his average as a no 4. 

Chandi blossoms well at No 6, especially when everything is going wrong. I think he helped SL many times to get out of the pits we jumped into at that lower middle order position. Both his 126 yesterday and 162 against India (shifted due to a night watchman, mind you) came at no 6. He averages 35 at no 4 compared to 45 overall. His no 6 position average is staggering 85 with four out of six centuries. 

More importantly his absence in lower order has seen the team collapsing often, since no recovery player has been groomed thus far.

So I think he should be given what he does best at no 6. No 4 should be given to another stylish batter perhaps fresh out of school. Or perhaps Angelo Mathews.

In the meantime Shaminda Eranga is reported. So does that mean that we're playing Dasun Shanaka in the next test? Eranga didn't bowl that well either.

Also another selection question. Kusal Perera is available, so who will sit out? Obviously it should be Thirimanne, but it seems that SL cricket pundits have given him a slot no matter what he does.

Bored in the sorrow of defeat here are some stats to read (even statistics are more interesting than cricket nowadays). 

Test Batting:

	# Total Matches	# Players with 10000+ test runs	# Players with 5000+ test runs	# Players with 50+  averages (min of 20 innings)	# Players with 40+ averages (min of 20 innings)	Years taken to produce 10000+ player **
ENG	969	1	21	9	49	139
AUS	788	3	18	11	48	116
WI	513	2	12	8	26	76
IND	495	3	10	5	20	55
NZL	408	-	5	-	11	-
SA	400	1	7	5	18	120
PAK	395	-	6	4	16	-
SL	245	2	8	1	9	29
ZIM	97	-	-	1	3	-
BAN	93	-	-	1	1	-

** First player crossed 10000 in 1980s. Test cricket was not this frequent, and transport has not been this quick in distant past

Test Bowling:

	# Total Test Matches	# Players with 500+ test wickets	# Players with 300+ test wickets	# Players with 25- averages (min of 10 matches 40 wkts)	# Players with 30-    averages (min of 10 matches 40 wkts)
ENG	969	-	5	19 **	> 50 **
AUS	788	2	4	19 **	> 50 **
WI	513	1	4	7	19
IND	495	1	4	1	8
NZL	408	-	2	2	7
SA	400	-	4	8 **	19 **
PAK	395	-	3	9	17
SL	245	1	3	1	2
ZIM	97	-	-	-	1
BAN	93	-	-	-	-

** In early days with under arm bowling in non-standard pitch conditions bowlers averaged very low.

Sources Wiki and Cricinfo.

Sri Lanka is the third best visitor in England, but this may be my last chance to say that

Sri Lanka is the third best visiting test team in England (after Australia and West Indies), when considering win/loss ratio. Sadly this may be my last chance to say that. We have won 3 and lost 6 tests. Having three more played in next month or so, I'd say that Sri Lanka will have to do extremely beyond their capacity to improve it.

In the mean time Mahela Jayawardena will be happy to have another 50- averaging player in 10000+ club. So far Mahela solely holds the awkward record of averaging 50- with 10000+ runs. Alastair Cook only needs few runs and injury barred, he'll surely get there.

Sanath Jayasuruya has beaten the tropical spin off the coast by creating a whirlwind in his comments of "best bowling side in the world". He wasn't referring to England who has 400+ and 300+ wicket takers. Hope his "best bowlers" will live up to a fraction of master's typically flamboyant whack over all media outlets.


Lahiru Thirimanna averages mere 8.00 in 10 innings against England and still seem to have secured a position for tomorrow. It is the same venue as famous 2014 win, and maybe Angelo will try keeping close to that XI as much as he can.

Typically pre-match interviews are the time that even giants role on ground to be overly humble. But, perhaps insulted by Sanath's claim of "best bowling side", James Anderson already declared that they'll win this 3-0. I thought only M S Dhoni reserves such pre-ordering in world cricket.

James Anderson is the leading wicket taker in the world, whereas Stuart Broad is not far away. England is playing their history's most run accumulator, best wicket accumulator and third best wicket accumulator in one side. Sri Lanka has only two batsmen averaging above 40 to face the challenge, only five batsmen have played more than five tests, Thirimanna being one. Perhaps Rangana's 300 wickets may well be the only celebration among the heartache of a shame.

But against odds... let's hope they'll turn the game in England.