Mistaken Identity, Frostbite and Running Companions: Day 1 of Essex v Gloucestershire

Billy Godleman (right) is embraced by captain James Foster as he reaches Essex's first County Championship century of the season. 

Portman Road in an easterly wind had nothing on this. On Sunday, when I went to Cambridge to watch Essex play the university side, I got sunburnt. Today, I probably came close hyperthermia. And so, in this ridiculous weather of this green and pleasant land, begins another glorious season of county cricket.

Cloudy and overcast, Gloucestershire had no hesitation in electing to field first when they when the toss. Charl Willoughby, having only bowled 6 overs in Cambridge due to a tight groin, was ruled out for Essex. Alviro Petersen made his debut and added some much needed experience to the top order. There was no place for Jaik Mickleburgh, but Mark Pettini returned to the Essex fold after what has been a fairly turbulent two years for the former skipper.

Early wickets are Essex's forte and Petersen, having hit a couple of boundaries, decided to attempt to extinguish any early season optimism and depart with the score on 19. The majority of Essex's opening partnerships last season were nothing to shout home about, but Petersen, having arrived in the country on Tuesday can only improve. Petersen's departure brought Tom Westley to the crease, with him deciding to grab the initiative and bring Essex's run rate up to nearly four an over.

Westley departed for 33 and Pettini departed for 9 soon after. Essex were in the all too familiar position of being three wickets down in double figures. Then in came Adam Wheater. 

The only photo I have of Wheater is of the shot that got him out, but he played superbly. He thrives in conditions where Essex have their backs to the wall, having done something similar against the same opposition back in August last year. It can be risky, but he's an aggressive player. He smacked a huge six over the top of the hospitality suite and into the car park behind and reached his 50 off only 31 deliveries. It was greeted with a standing ovation, usually reserved for a century.

He may look really small, but he packs one heck of a punch and he really helped Essex seize the momentum of the morning. Three wickets went down, but Essex went into lunch 146-3,. Wheater departed soon after lunch for a very entertaining 56 off 42 deliveries. The 22 year old is certainly one to watch this season.

Greg Smith came in, got 34 off 33 and then went. Along the way in the 50 partnership, he and Godleman had managed to steer Essex to their first bonus points of the season, as they passed the 200 mark. Godleman at this point had passed 50 and was building an innings that another Essex left hander would be proud of.

At 210-5, Essex had a good platform to build upon and captain Foster and Godleman built on it. In around 33 overs, the two put on 94 (if you play for Essex, it's a good number apparently) for the 6th wicket. Godleman reached his century with a boundary off James Fuller, having got past the 94 he made against Cambridge.

Billy, or Bernard/Barry as the gentlemen sat behind me christened him, Godleman played well today. He barely offered a chance to the Gloucestershire fielders and played watchfully, anchoring one end and rotating the strike with some ease. He equalled his career best of 130 with this innings and whilst it is only the first day of the season and there are far more dangerous attacks out there, it will be a confidence boost to Godleman after a poor 2011. 

James Foster and Graham Napier both provided Godleman with support. Foster fell four short of what would've been a deserved half century. The delight for Godleman was evident as he embraced Godleman before allowing him to salute the crowd. When he departed, Napier began his innings by listening to my Fantasy Cricket inspired pep talk/shout of, "Don't get a duck!" as he walked out to the crease. He hit his first ball for four.

Once Napier departed, Godleman quickly followed and Essex went from 357-7 to 364 all out. Chambers bagged a duck and Masters was the last man out for 9. Tymal Mills was not out on 0. 

Essex will be slightly disappointed that they couldn't reach 400 and claim all 5 bonus points on offer. They had the platform, but the tail unfortunately didn't wag. However, to score at nearly four an over on the first day of the season, having been put into bat in conditions that looked likely to be bowler friendly, is, compared to previous seasons, a fairly good start. With Cook and Bopara set to return from Sri Lanka in the coming weeks and Shah and ten Doeschate due back from the IPL at some point in May, Essex's batting line up can only be made to look stronger.

Tomorrow, it's over to the bowlers. David Masters will be hoping for a repeat of his 6-75 he got at the Colchester Festival last year and Napier will be looking to bring in some of the form he showed against Cambridge after a winter of nursing an elbow injury. Maurice Chambers, Greg Smith and Tymal Mills make up the rest of the bowling attack, with Tom Westley likely to bowl a couple of overs of off spin. Should Essex have a good day in the field, it may well pave the way to a decent start to the 2012 season.

Alviro Petersen gains a friendly companion on a pre-Nando's run around the Chelmsford outfield.

It's been a long winter and there's only so much you can refresh the scorecards of the domestic section of the southern hemisphere on Cricinfo. County cricket, you're a strange but absolutely wonderful world, and it's fantastic to have you back.

County Cricket: Essex's 2012 Season Preview

Dust off the Playfair, dig out your sun cream (or woolly hat and scarves at the moment), find that cushion to make your sitting on the benches a far more comfortable experience and get a flask of tea ready. County cricket's back and it begins on Thursday 5th April.

With the pre-season done and the press day out of the way, I thought I'd give a season preview for the county that I support before it all kicks off. I'll probably look back at this in September and laugh.

As stated in a previous post, Essex's 2011 was one of, ultimately, mediocrity and disappointment. With investment in the squad, Essex will be hoping 2012 is a more successful one and, in terms of actions off the field, a less controversial one. So, in light of all this, here are my key players, players to watch out for and my hopes and expectations for the forthcoming season.

Key Players:

David Masters

It would be foolish to expect a repeat of his superb 2011 season, but Masters has shown himself to be a reliable and important spearhead of the Essex attack, especially in the first-class format of the game. He took 93 wickets last season, including a career best 8-10 against Leicestershire at Southend, and has started the new season terrorising the students who play for Cambridge MCCU.

He is the perfect team player. Whilst he's not got searing pace,  he'll run in all day for you and bowl on a nagging, accurate line and length with incredible economic figures. Foster stated in an interview with BBC Look East that Masters was the perfect bowler to keep to, and this shows because despite being a quick bowler, Foster regularly comes up to the stumps when he's bowling.

Every team needs a carthorse to do some of the hard work. Masters is the ideal one for Essex.



Alviro Petersen

His time here for the first half of the season will be crucial. With Ryan ten Doeschate and Owais Shah being a part of the Indian Premier League, and Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara on England duty, Essex will be relying on Alviro Petersen to bulk up the vulnerable young top order and help Essex have a good start to the season.

His form coming into the county season is mixed, but he will surely be buoyed by the 156 he got against the New Zealanders in the final Test at Wellington. He will need time to adapt to English conditions, but having arrived in Chelmsford on Tuesday, he's already asked where Nando's is, so his off the field settling in seems to be going well. The management staff will hope that he has a better time of it in Essex than his fellow countryman Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Glamorgan were aggrieved with Petersen's decision to join Essex. He was initially going to play for them as a Kolpak player and give up international cricket, but having returned to the international set up, he wants to pursue his South African career. So instead of returning to Glamorgan, he's ended up at Chelmsford. It's going to make the match at the beginning of next month very interesting indeed.

James Foster

Heading into his second full season as captain after the resignation of Mark Pettini in a tricky 2010, Foster will hope that 2012 is a more successful one, both for himself as captain and as a player. To me, he is still one of the best glovemen in the country. He has quick reflexes and regularly pulls off excellent stumpings/catches.

Last season, there were issues with his, and the club's, on field behaviour and this led to a hefty fine. Foster himself was banned for two matches in the Twenty20 tournament after giving the umpires verbals for a decision he deemed poor in a match against Surrey. It was a frustrating tournament for everyone. On paper, Essex had a good side, but they just could not perform.

2011 was Foster's benefit year, so with that now out of the way, Foster will be able to focus more on the game rather than what's going on off field. He has got more experience of captaining now and will hope that this experience will make his task of juggling keeping, captaincy and lower order batting easier.

Graham Napier

It's been four years since Napier made headlines with his 152* against Sussex in the 2008 Twenty20 tournament, but 2012 marks a special year for Napier. 2012 has been named as his benefit year, so all eyes will be on him for different reasons. Injured for the majority of the 2010 season with a stress fracture in his back, Napier returned to the Essex team and again made headlines by hitting 16 sixes against Surrey in a County Championship match. He took 28 wickets at 24.64 in the County Championship last season and remains a big part of Essex's limited overs attack (despite only taking 12 wickets in the CB40 and 5 in the Twenty20).

Over the winter he was set to play for Central Districts in New Zealand's domestic Twenty20 tournament, the HRV Cup, but his winter was cut short early by an elbow injury. However, in the match between Essex and Cambridge MCCU, he was bowling with pace and managed to pick up 3 wickets.

His ability to hit big will be crucial in the limited overs cricket, but having already scored a century off 48 deliveries in the aforementioned Cambridge match, his lower order big hitting is just as useful in the four day format of the game.

Tim Phillips

Given the fast bowling pot that Essex have at the moment, it's easy to overlook the slower bowlers of the squad. However, Phillips will surely have something to say this season. He was a valuable resource in Essex's poor Twenty20 campaign. He was, in fact, the leading wicket taker in the country with 26 wickets at 13.23 in the 15 matches he played. In 2010 he played 16 matches for the county, picking up only 9 at 35.66. In the CB40, he was joint leading wicket taker for the county, taking 17 wickets at 22.35. 

Drought conditions in the south east mean that Chelmsford may well become a dust bowl over the summer. With Danish Kaneria now far away from the county, which is very much for the best, Phillips will hope that he can continue to noticeably improve and potentially become a potent part of Essex's 4-day attack.


Players to watch out for:

Reece Topley

Last year, Topley had to wear the junior version of the CB40 shirt because he was under-age. A tall, left arm medium-fast bowler, with the ability to swing the ball, Topley burst onto the scene for Essex against Kent back in April 2011. He took 7 wickets on debut and finished second in the list of leading wicket takers for Essex last season, with 34 wickets at an average of 23.55.

His name's been known since 2009 when he was clobbered on the side of the head by Kevin Pietersen at Loughborough. He, along with Ben Foakes, is currently in Australia with the England Under-19s for a Quadrangular Series involving Australia, New Zealand and India. When he returns to England, don't be surprised to see the 18 year old straight back into the Essex attack because 2012 may well be a big year for the Ipswich born Topley.

Tymal Mills

The rise of Tymal Mills is one that should warm the hardest of hearts. Having only taken up cricket when he was 14, Mills spent his winter rubbing elbows with the likes of Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Stuart Meaker in South Africa and Bangladesh with the England Performance Programme/England Lions squad. Not bad for someone who was playing club cricket on the village greens of Suffolk back in May.

He made his debut for Essex against the Sri Lankans in June 2011 and took the wicket of Paranavitina in the first innings. He finished the first class season with 7 wickets in the 4 matches he played and picked up 1 wicket against Somerset in the only CB40 match he played. He is a quick bowler. His accuracy is a bit off and he can be expensive, but it will come with more games that he plays. He, like Topley, is certainly one to watch out for in the coming season.

Adam Wheater

Last season marked some astonishing performances from the 22 year old, as he managed to get Essex out of tricky situations, most notably against Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire. He was named in the Potential England Performance Programme squad over the winter and also played first class cricket in Zimbabwe for Matabeleland Tuskers. He scored 642 runs in 11 innings at an average of 71.33, scoring a century and three half-centuries in the process. He also gained valuable wicketkeeping experience, something that it is difficult to get at Essex with James Foster behind the stumps.

Last year Wheater was the second highest run scorer for the county, scoring 804 at 42.31. If he can replicate this form this season, then it may well be a very good one for the youngster.

Tom Craddock

If not for his ballerina-esque bowling action, it's worth paying attention to Craddock. Plucked from the obscurity of the Unicorns CB40 side, Tom Craddock enjoyed a decent start to his Essex career. He played 8 first-class matches and picked up 22 wickets, double that of Tim Phillips.

Having impressed on trial, Craddock has signed a two year deal with the club. He will hope that he can build on his success in 2011 and become a big part of both the first-class and limited overs attack.

Pre-season antics:

Rather than spending money heading to warmer climes, Essex decided to stay at home for pre-season. They had three warm-up matches and then a university/first-class match against Cambridge MCCU and made use of a tent on the outfield to have outdoor nets.

The Essex players have also been playing cricket across the world, with Zimbabwe seemingly being a popular destination. Like said in the introduction, Essex have invested in the squad. Charl Willoughby has joined from Somerset, Greg Smith from Derbyshire, Alviro Petersen comes in as overseas player and Peter Siddle has been signed up for the Twenty20 tournament. There are rumours of Brendan Taylor also joining for the Twenty20, but Essex have said that this talk is 'premature'.

But the most notable, and heartbreaking, thing that happened in the pre-season is what took place at the Old Bailey back in January this year. The shadow of Mervyn Westfield's imprisonment for spot-fixing charges hangs over the club, with the court (and cricketing world) accusing the current players of sticking their heads in the sand over the entire issue and taking the wrong methods in going about reporting the corruption. When the sentence was given, the Twitterati descended on the Essex Twitter feed, because they decided that it would be the perfect day to advertise a job opportunity/the new kit coming in.

I don't really know what people were expecting from a Twitter feed run by someone probably sat in the portacabin next to the pavilion and who can only write whatever they're provided with, but it just goes to show the anger that was, and perhaps still is, directed at the club. It has taken Essex around two months to release any public statement about the spot-fixing trial, and that was just to say that the players wouldn't be talking about it.

There are questions still to be answered and as an Essex fan, but ultimately a cricket fan, I am of course disappointed with the response. But my major issue is with that of Kaneria, and it was at the time. If he was being investigated by the police, why was he still allowed to be at the club? If what the court says is true, that he "joked" about money and cricket in front of more experienced players, then how was this overlooked? With this incident happening in 2009, to me (with Essex tinted glasses, I'm sorry) it feels like an enormous sense of naivety. The Pakistani spot-fixing trial has set the precedent and corruption cannot be tolerated.

It's not a time to try and score points off the club and have little digs at it, because, frankly, I've always thought the cricketing world was more mature than that. Every club should learn from this. Every club should protect their players, but especially the youngsters, from the lure of an easy few quid. When the news broke about this, I nearly cried in the library and then went to a lecture, sat slumped in an Essex hoody. I felt a mixture of emotions, ranging from being ashamed to angry and, most of all, distraught. Spot-fixing is a serious issue and it has once again claimed a youngster trying to make a cricketing career. And that, is the biggest tragedy of all.

What could happen:

So, what can be expected this year? Well, I'm a terrible Mystic Meg, so I'm not going to bring out a crystal ball or anything like that. However, I will say that there feels like there's a sense of optimism round the club. Even I feel optimistic, which is a strange and foreign feeling to me. I'm even taking sunglasses down today despite the Arctic conditions.

The signing of Peter Siddle in the Twenty20 should draw in the crowds. Whilst he's not exactly the best Twenty20 player, a fired up Siddle running in from the Hayes Close/River End in front of a packed out Chelmsford crowd should get everyone rocking. Essex will hope that, like Tim Southee last year, he can add a bit of fireworks to the batting. Let's just hope they decide not to open the batting with him.

The CB40 campaign last year was ruined by the weather and the south west, mainly Somerset. This year, Essex won't be playing the habitual runners up in the group stages, but will instead have some tough fixtures against Twenty20 champions Leicestershire, the Netherlands (who claimed a few upsets last year), trips to the south west, Middlesex and Lancashire. Essex are known for being a decent one day outfit and have had some success in recent years in this limited overs format.

As stated many times, the 2011 season was an incredibly disappointing. But with the new arrivals at Chelmsford and a hotbed of youngsters, Essex will be hoping that things will click on the field and they can regain promotion to Division 1 and do well in the limited overs tournaments. Bring on the county season 2012.

The Galle Test: Sri Lanka v England, Day 4

At the close on day three, England need 229 runs. To stop themselves from losing their fourth Test in a row, they will also need a large dollop of patience, skill and a bit of luck. Sri Lanka will need 8 wickets and know that if they put enough pressure on the English batsmen, their current mental state will cause them to play a risky, or in some cases just plain dumb, shot and throw away their wicket on a pitch that once you get in, it's important to stay in and accumulate. 

"History's there to be rewritten, isn't it?" said Graeme Swann yesterday evening. If you were on Twitter earlier in the day, you'd have seen that Bob Willis was trending in the United Kingdom, which usually means either you've missed a classic rant about Steve Harmison or England have been heavily defeated.

Steve Harmison could breathe a huge sigh of relief as it was, sadly for the huge amount of England fans in the ground in Galle and perched on top of the fort, the latter. England's final innings total was their second highest for a fourth innings in Asia (their 8th highest total in Sri Lanka itself), but their awful batting exploits on day 2, mistakes in the field and nobody else learning from their horrible exploits in the first innings to stick around with Jonathan Trott in the second, meant that England were on course to lose their fourth Test in a row.

At a point during the afternoon session, there was hope. It was slim, but there was hope because there was a decent partnership. But this was all but extinguished as key wickets fell in a collapse before the tea interval. Enough talk, here's the ducks with what happened once play began on day 4:

The Strauss Conundrum

Strauss celebrating his double hundred at Lord's for Middlesex against Leicestershire, August 2011.

I've loved cricket for as long as Andrew Strauss has been playing Test cricket. Strauss wasn't the reason I fell in love with cricket, Rob Key was with his double century against the West Indies, but his two centuries against the Australians in the 2005 Ashes series made me sit up and pay attention. During the time after the 2005 Ashes and to the present day, Strauss' form has gone through golden, and barren, patches.

He's in a clear barren patch at the moment and the stats do not make pretty reading. If we go from the end of the 2009 Ashes series, in which he was the leading run scorer of either side, it currently stands that he has only scored one century in 42 Test innings, with that century coming against Australia at Brisbane in 2010. His average since the conclusion of that series in 2009 has been 31.14, a far cry from his overall average of 41.15 (which was 42.37 before he became captain in January 2009).

But as this form slump has been happening, the team around him has been performing. His opening partner, Alastair Cook, has been on the rise ever since Mohammad Asif handed him a century at The Oval back in August 2010. Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell have all been in prolific form too and part of the reason (along with a hard hitting tail) England posted such mammoth totals in Australia and across the 2011 summer.

Yet things all started to come unstuck in the Middle East back in January. Facing quality spin bowling for the first time in a couple of years, England reverted back to the England many of us have grown up with. Suddenly, reaching 150 was considered par and 400 was a pipe dream. Everyone struggled. England only posted one century partnership on the Test side of the tour. Players who'd been in sparkling form in 2011 were suddenly under pressure.

But Strauss hadn't been in sparkling form in the whites for England in 2011. He scored 256 Test runs in the summer of 2011, 316 in the year overall. With the other batsmen failing around him, as the first innings of the Galle Test showed that England have a poor mental attitude when it comes to playing spin, and suffering a Test series whitewash for the first time as captain of England after leading them to a whitewash over India which saw his team claim number one Test status, Strauss now finds himself at the centre of the media spotlight.  

The closest he came to a Test century last summer was against India, but he was out for 87 at Edgbaston attempting a sweep shot against Mishra, which he missed and ended up getting bowled, which sounds all too familiar. During the period since the 2009 Ashes, he has scored nine half centuries, but cannot go on to reach three figures. He, like today in Galle, seems to get himself out, rather than being 'got out' by the batsmen.

Whilst he struggled in the Tests of 2011, his domestic form was fine. For Middlesex, he scored 614 runs (including a century against the touring Sri Lankans, who he then went on to score only 27 runs against in the whole series) at an average of 76.75. It included his maiden first-class double century. He even went to play for Somerset, to help him try and regain some form. He ended up making an unbeaten century and 75 against India, yet in the Test series managed to score a total of 229 runs. In limited overs cricket, which he has now retired from, he was in the list for the highest run scorers at the Cricket World Cup in India. 
Yet he has been unable to transfer this into Test cricket. Granted, facing a Leicestershire side who only won one game all season is a far cry from facing a team who were ranked number one in the world before they visited England, but the old cliché goes that form is temporary and class is permanent.

Is Strauss' Test form something of a concern to him? He stated in a press conference last year that "it is my turn to come to the party", yet nearly a year later, he still has no Test century. His captaincy has been tested. This Test he has been criticised by Geoff Boycott and the journalistic Twitterati for his defensive field placings. Cook's been having a mixed bag of an ODI captaincy since he was appointed back in May last year, but his recent victory in the Middle East (in a whitewash) was a good response to the debacle of the India tour back in October. Home victories over Sri Lanka and India were a good way to start his true reign in charge of the ODI side and, like said, he's been in fantastic form and is beginning to look like a good international limited overs batsman.

Strauss has stated that his aim is at least two more Ashes series. But Strauss is an intelligent man and will know when his time is up and will want to hand over the Test captaincy to Cook  or anyone else when he and Andy Flower feel that the time is right. He and Flower have led England to the top of the ICC Rankings, even though this seems to have been undermined by the horrendous displays in Pakistan and (currently) Sri Lanka. India at the end of this year will be a tough tour too and England won't want to go over there with an inexperienced captain. 

Strauss has the respect, and support, of his team mates (judging by Graeme Swann's comments anyway) and they will want him to find some Test form. Strauss has been in a slump before, back in 2007. He was found out in the 2006/07 Ashes by Australia and feared for his international career before he scored a, at the time, career-best 177 in England's second innings of the final Test at Napier against New Zealand in 2008. Here he came in at 3. Would pushing Trott, or even Bell, to open with Cook and putting him in at 3 or pushing him down the order help him find some Test form?
Should England lose tomorrow in Galle, then they will be 1-0 down in a two match series and desperately clinging on to a number one ranking they worked so hard to obtain. If they lose in Colombo, Strauss will have gone from leading a side who won six out of eight Tests in 2011 to captaining a side who've lost five out of five in 2012, on the continent that they were trying to crack to prove his team were worthy of a number one ranking. 

Whilst he maintains a cool exterior, surely his own personal form and the slump of the side he's captaining is playing on the back of his mind. England made headlines in the warm up games for the wrong reasons and when Strauss was given out LBW in England's disastrous first innings yesterday, he had a confrontation with the umpires because Sri Lanka decided to wait for the leg bye signal before reviewing. There doesn't seem to be any completely clear cut choices banging at the door (although they've all got to start somewhere) in county cricket and Strauss is still 11th on the list of all time English run scorers. But with a resurgent West Indies side over in May/June and the South Africans and their hostile pace attack coming, Strauss will once again be facing a test of his batting and a test of his captaincy skills.
Strauss is one of my favourite players which is what makes watching him at the moment feel like I'm once again watching the slow decline of a beloved childhood pet. And that's why I really hope that Strauss regains some remnant his Test batting form and doesn't finish off his reign as captaincy like Michael Vaughan. Because Strauss can be a joy to watch when he's deciding to not play horrible sweep shots or poorly executing attempts to hit over the top off the spinners. He may not be involved in the run chase tomorrow, but eyes will be on him in Colombo and there's no doubt that he will want to perform. Whether he will is the question.

The Galle Test: Sri Lanka v England, Day 3

And so, to day 3 of the Galle Test, where England continue their phenomenally bad form against anyone who can spin a ball. Part of me imagines someone like Swann walking into the changing room and saying hello, only to find that the top order are cowered in a corner, desperately playing air sweep shots in an attempt to try and keep him away from them.

Enough about what goes on inside my head. Day 3 began with Sri Lanka at the crease and 5 wickets down already. They were looking to build on their 209 run lead and give England a target that would probably make them go into said corner and whimper without having faced a ball. England, meanwhile, were hoping to pick up the remaining 5 wickets quickly and chase down a total of around 250.
Here's what happened on an intriguing and close day 3 in Galle:

The Galle Test: Sri Lanka v England, Day 2

So, day 2 in Galle. After such an evenly contested and hard fought first day, there's not really much else I can do to introduce a day that saw 17 wickets fall, most of which were caused by such monumental brain farts that it made Brad Haddin's shot at Newlands in the 47 all out seem almost the Test cricket standard.
Mahela Jayawardene's superb unbeaten century as the others around him crumbled was one of the highlights of day 1, as was James Anderson's performance on a pitch not giving him much help. Here's the highlights of what happened on an eventful day 2 at Galle.

The Galle Test: Sri Lanka v England, Day 1

After a disastrous tour of the United Arab Emirates, next up for England was a trip to one of the toughest places to tour, Sri Lanka. England will return in September for the Twenty20 World Cup, but for now, in the heat and humidity of Galle, Sri Lanka and England play one of those annoying two Test series.

England, still number one after the Middle East humiliation thanks to the weather of New Zealand, include three spinners in their line up, handing a Test debut to Samit Patel at the expense of Eoin Morgan. Sri Lanka have Mahela Jayawardene back at the helm and after having played so much limited overs cricket for the past three months, it'll be interesting to see how their players adapt back to the longer format.

In the scenic ground of the Galle International Stadium ("expertly recreated" in my back garden), the scene of England's horrendous 81 all out back in 2007. By mentioning that, I've probably tempted some horrific fate for when England bat, but that's a matter for a different day. Here's day one in Galle, in the format that made a delivery man look weirdly at me as he appeared in my back garden.