My team selection was pretty easy - other than Chris Tremlett being ruled out of the series with a groin strain it was pretty much as I would have liked. I plumped for Steve Finn ahead of Tim Bresnan (who was my 12th man throughout the series), and set off to Cardiff for the first test.
Sri Lanka won the toss, and with a bit of cloud in the Welsh sky, elected to have a bowl. This was the score after the first day. They probably regretted it.
Cook and Trott both made tons, (with Strauss and Pietersen the men not to), and the foundations were set for a big one. Eventually, after Swann made 88 and Matt Prior made an unbeaten century, I declared midway through Day 2 with the score at 615/7.
Faced with a big score, Sri Lanka fell apart, and didn't get remotely close to even enforcing the follow-on. Recovering from being 40/6 after new ball bowlers Broad and Anderson shared three apiece, they eventually "recovered" to 179 all out - a good 436 runs short of what we put up.
I asked them to bat again, and their second knock ended 3 runs further short, with them making 176 all out this time. Graeme Swann picked up the man of the match award, which seems a touch odd given that he barely bowled in the first innings and took the last four wickets in the second, but it would be churlish (and pointless) to complain.
The second test was more of the same, as with an unchanged side we batted first and made 411, without anyone making a century (top score Cook with 84). Jimmy Anderson then started swinging it sideways and picked up a six-for as they squeezed narrowly past the follow on target, to end up 190 runs behind after the first innings. Well ahead by this point anyway, Strauss and Trott both made centuries as we set them well over 600 to win, which they never threatened making. Trott was man of the match, and we'd won the series without even breaking a sweat.
The third test was immaterial, but after taking a first innings lead of over 200 thanks to centuries from Strauss (106) and Cook (149 - his third ton of the three match series) we were again well set. Sri Lanka fought valiantly, mainly thanks to a 178 from Dilshan, but another Strauss 106 saw us to a comfortable victory.
An incredibly one-sided series which was won with consummate ease by my boys. Strauss, Cook and Trott were all in sparkling form with the bat, with a couple of cameos from Bell, Pietersen and Prior to boot. And Swann, Anderson and Broad all chipped in with wickets to win the series very easily. My only concern would be Steve Finn, who as in real life did take a few wickets, but had an awful economy rate which helped let Sri Lanka back into the game a few times (before wickets from the other guys ended those thoughts). I toyed with dropping Finn ahead of the third test in place of Bresnan, but stuck with the lanky man of Middlesex ahead of the portly Yorkie. However, with Tremlett likely to be fit for the India series, I'm probably going to stick him in ahead of either of them, which should help further reinforce an already strong team.
Next up is the ODI series against Sri Lanka, and I'll have to have a think about how best to get results in limited over cricket (and who'll captain them for one!)
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