Story ProgressBack to home
Eng look to square Lanka series
England coach Peter Moores wants his team to be streetwise and aggressive as the tourists bid for a series-levelling win in the second Test.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: December 09, 2007 04:15 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
Colombo:
series-levelling win in the second Test against Sri Lanka starting on Sunday.
England lost the first Test in Kandy by 88 runs despite holding a first innings lead of 93 runs and failed to bat out an extra 30 minutes on the final day that could have drawn the match.
Moores said the lessons learnt from the Kandy Test will help them match the formidable home team during the second match at the Sinhalese Sports Club, one of Sri Lanka's favourite hunting grounds.
"We have to be a bit more savvy, a bit more streetwise and find different ways of attacking," said Moores.
"We have got to be able to sustain periods of pressure for longer with both bat and ball and, if we do those things, then we can make it hard work for them.
"One of the worst things we could do is chase the game. If we create pressure there is some fragility there we can expose."
England will be inspired by their 2001 predecessors under Nasser Hussain who fought back after losing the first Test to win the next two and take the series 2-1.
England must choose between the experienced Steve Harmison and Test rookie Stuart Broad to replace frontline strike bowler Matthew Hoggard, who is an unlikely starter after the back injury sustained in Kandy.
The injury-prone Harmison missed the opening Test with back spasms, having just recovered from hernia surgery that forced him to prove his fitness playing first-class cricket in South Africa ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.
England coach Peter Moores wants his team to be streetwise and aggressive as the tourists bid for aseries-levelling win in the second Test against Sri Lanka starting on Sunday.
England lost the first Test in Kandy by 88 runs despite holding a first innings lead of 93 runs and failed to bat out an extra 30 minutes on the final day that could have drawn the match.
Moores said the lessons learnt from the Kandy Test will help them match the formidable home team during the second match at the Sinhalese Sports Club, one of Sri Lanka's favourite hunting grounds.
"We have to be a bit more savvy, a bit more streetwise and find different ways of attacking," said Moores.
"We have got to be able to sustain periods of pressure for longer with both bat and ball and, if we do those things, then we can make it hard work for them.
"One of the worst things we could do is chase the game. If we create pressure there is some fragility there we can expose."
England will be inspired by their 2001 predecessors under Nasser Hussain who fought back after losing the first Test to win the next two and take the series 2-1.
England must choose between the experienced Steve Harmison and Test rookie Stuart Broad to replace frontline strike bowler Matthew Hoggard, who is an unlikely starter after the back injury sustained in Kandy.
The injury-prone Harmison missed the opening Test with back spasms, having just recovered from hernia surgery that forced him to prove his fitness playing first-class cricket in South Africa ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.
Topics mentioned in this article
Cricket Sreesanth
Get the Latest IPL 2024 Updates, check out IPL 2024 schedules and IPL points table at NDTV Sports.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.