2nd Test Sri Lanka v Pakistan Colombo.

Weather looks good first 2 days, with the usual t'storms after that.

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews(c), Dinesh Chandimal(w), Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dhammika Prasad, T Kaushal, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera

Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Junaid Khan

Pakistan have won the toss and will bat 1st

Pak will probably be 30/3 & then have to be rescued by their middle order!!

Big congrats to Younis Khan on playing his 100th Test match

Fancy Pak for this. They do seem to have an answer for Herath. And without Herath taking wickets, SL bowling pretty toothless. Although, ball should move around early, so maybe SL get lucky and take 2 or 3 before lunch.

Line runs predict Pakistan to make around 350 or so\

Mohammed Hafeez opening

Ahmed Shehzad also opening

Dhammika Prasad opening the bowling for SL

Dean Jones thinks there will be a bit of bounce early

conditions are overcast, with cloud cover. Might be a testy hour for Pakistan batsman

a bit of movement in the air

pitch is a a tad hard

a bit of grass over the wicket as well

Ravi from India the referee

Richard Illingworth the other umpire

Paul Reiffel the 3rd umpire

Angelo Matthews opening from the other end

wktttttttttttttttttttt

early wicket

the players go 'woo hoo'

these conditions are ideal for bowling, going to say it right now i reckon Sri Lanka can nab at least 3 wickets in this morning session

Surprised that was given out.

This could be a short match, vicious, quick turn on offer & enough for the seamers

sun back out, should be playing again soon!

Agree. SL should be batting well before stumps.

sorry to be a pain but any links please?

I was watching this

http://www.crichd.in/live/willow-cricket-live-stream.php

But has stopped working. Who knows?

Sri Lanka making a slow but apparently steady start to their innings (don't have streaming for this match).
Made a profit on a small pre-match lay of the draw and have cashed out for now. Does anyone who can see the play have some ideas about how this is going? Hoping to go back in at some stage.

Vicious turn for the Lankan chucker. Otherwise fine to bat on

Thanks dark forces of evil. The draw price has fallen back a bit and am hoping it will fall further before laying again. Easy wicket tomorrow would help.

Looks like a fair bit of rain in D3 forecast

Comes with the caveat of a Lankan forecast of course

Pak need to knock over SL not much later than tea today to keep in with a chance, and even then a slim chance. Batting should be reasonably good, well into tomorrow.

Weather forecast not too bad today and tomorrow.

It looks like Pak will bowl SL out today.

Generally poor from SL. They deserve to lose this.

3 days left and I can't see us needing more than 2 to finish this. Unless Pak manage to go big 2nd inn, which I doubt as SL bowling better than I anticipated.

Is there anyone at the ground with a weather update please?
Cannot see this being a draw either if the weather can hold out. 180 overs max needed for a result even if Pakistan put up a bit of a fight. But its test cricket and I try not to back short odds....

I am hearing that it could be an on-time start here in Colombo! If so, amazing, amazing work by the 120-strong ground

hope that helps !!

Thanks do appreciate it. The odds do seem to suggest that cheers.

Had another small lay of the draw. If not much time is lost to the weather then there should be a better than evens chance of a result. Not a lot damage if it doesn't come off and will cash out if there is a significant upswing in the draw price tomorrow.

Its a waiting game foin, precipitation model not great for next two days, they had 60 overs today in though !!!

There will be cloudy skies with showers at times in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central provinces and in the Galle and Matara districts. Heavy rain falls (more than 150mm) can be expected in the Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Ratnapura and Kegalle districts. Thundershowers may develop at a few places in the Eastern and Uva provinces during the afternoon or evening.

the above was issued today at 12 noon, I have no idea when the 150mm of rain is expected though !!!

is one of those seldom occasions when everything matches up, so will see King !!!

Point is - local forecasters warning and we've been incredibly lucky in this test to date.

The groundsmen did a great job this morning, it was like a lake !!! Think the game only needs 3/4 sessions to be played for a result

Also the problem of light reading needing to be above 6.8 otherwise they stop play.  On balance reckon 1.9 on the draw might represent value

Thanks for the weather updates, Please tell the truth. Draw price steady since stumps which suggests no change in the outlook. Will wait and see for now. When I wake up tomorrow it will already be lunch in Colombo so some change is likely by then.

Pak were too big all day yesterday and still are. If we get most of the overs in, they are a decent chance here. 200 will be challenging for SL batting last on day 5, although Pak a bowler down.

tbh, I don't like the look of today's weather.

am just up, great to see some play, is Russel your new friend King

Keeping the faith worked quite well, hope quite a few others took advantage of the low draw price yesterday.

SL need to get about 50 overs tomorrow to win. Rain forecast around start of play. Should be volatile.

I'm satisfied with what I have now and won't be gambling it on another trade tomorrow.
Should be fun and games for some though.

well done Foinavon, Sri Lanka still need to score 150 runs to win, and beat the weather !!!

Amazing this one.

Still very hard to predict with weather potentially going to do anything.

3.5 to lay on Day 5 - Evening vs a back of the Draw feels quite tempting.

looking at the weather forecasts on Google from 5am-8pm tomorrow, rain predicted to poor 74%-99%

Official SL met forecast,

'Fair weather' and 20mm rain from 08:30.

Go figure.

Odds all over the place too. Draw went from 6.6 to 4, and now back out again to 6's. I don't think the punter knows what is happening either. O to be there at the ground.

I laid all my SL profit yesterday at 1.21. Hoping for a mega payaday, fingers crossed. Massive green on Pak and the draw. Going to be a volatile day & I will be laying SL all day. There could be a huge gubbing today as any rain that falls will be heavy & will wipe out a session at a time! Could be a 100-1000/1 shot today!

From the ground:

Umar Farooq Kalson ‏@kalson  12m12 minutes ago Sri Lanka
it rained all night. it still dark outside.

Good Luck Jucel, well not really because for me a Sri Lanka win is the best options. AM thinking of laying some of it off as well. REally hard to say what is going to happen> Will be interesting to see the approach SL take when they do get out to bat. They could (not going to I think) get these runs in 20 overs if they go for it..... T20 approach.

If we do lose significant overs early, SL will be under pressure to level the series, which could well result in wickets and a Pak win. Pity the Pak tail didn't make a few extra runs. tbh, they were terrible. One of them looked like he was deliberately trying to nick off.

Jun 29, 2015 -- 3:24AM, pxb wrote:

If we do lose significant overs early, SL will be under pressure to level the series, which could well result in wickets and a Pak win. Pity the Pak tail didn't make a few extra runs. tbh, they were terrible. One of them looked like he was deliberately trying to nick off.

Brave for anybody to back SL at 1.25 to 1.35 on a day like this. I prefer to oppose it and hope for a lot of luck!

I'm all green for decent amounts, and not looking to make any trades.

I think we will get a delayed start and lose maybe 10 to 20 overs. It then depends if rain redevelopes later, and your guess is as good as mine on that.

Hope it pays off for you, jucel.

https://twitter.com/russelarnold69

Looks like its going in the right direction for you jucel. Im all green too with a bias on SL, but its test cricket and anything can and often does happen.

thanks Jucel, managed to lay some SL at 1.42 after the tweet feed. Cheers mate.

Jun 29, 2015 -- 3:42AM, tyco161 wrote:

Looks like its going in the right direction for you jucel. Im all green too with a bias on SL, but its test cricket and anything can and often does happen.

taken profit at 1.65 and then reassess later. Seems to have plateaued at this price based on that pic

http://www.accuweather.com/en/lk/national/satellite

The pic did not actually look too threatening. Took profit at 1.55 and 1.69. Cheers all round.

And back down to 1.35 again. Interesting what a few pictures and tweets will do to a market.

wow.... down to 1.25. Money to be made if you are at the ground that is for sure.

Jun 29, 2015 -- 4:45AM, tyco161 wrote:

wow.... down to 1.25. Money to be made if you are at the ground that is for sure.

If you have a massive bank & bet large, it's worth going to every test match to give you a massive edge!

covers coming off !!!

Yes I know.. I do that in NZ already... (when they have test matches in this country) but am thinking of going a bit further from home.

https://twitter.com/cricket_U

All very expensive, and then you are competing with the bookies that are already there !!!

If you have a massive bank & bet large, it's worth going to every test match to give you a massive edge!

On the Subcontinent certainly.

syndicates are at every venue, best positions etc !!!

am surprised betfair do not have a marquee

Took a bit on Pak at 28s & 29s. Hoping for a few quick wickets!

Jun 29, 2015 -- 4:56AM, PLEASE TELL THE TRUTH wrote:

syndicates are at every venue, best positions etc !!!

same as racecourses!

good value bet overcast conditions with a new ball and fifth day pitch etc

10.15 am start

Trading the weather in Test matches is a different game to what courtsiders do. I doubt the syndicates are much into it.

Besides the best position for weather trading would be a highrise or hill near the ground.

ironically the best thing that ever happened to the bookies was betfair, free access to real time markets, trading from the comforts of your own home or an office does have its benefits !!!

your not wrong there. managed to get some on at the NZ Tab earlier but they watch BF like a hawk and adjust their prices accordingly.
Weather trading in test matches is a way to go... not coursiding per-se, just waking up early in the morning and taking stock of what is happening with the precipitation.

Umar Farooq Kalson ‏@kalson  8m8 minutes ago Sri Lanka
revised time: 1015am as earlier match was supposed to start at 0945am. anyway its still dark and expect rain anytime soon.

very dark at the ground again!

Glad they are batting like this, stops me putting anymore bets on!

The groundsman is making a fortune!! Sending the lads out pretending there is rain on the way

what the hell is Matthews doing batting like this....

Been much more straightforward than I thought.

beautiful sunshine now well played lanka