Kevin Pietersen: The most powerful England captain for a generation? © Getty Images

For a virtual war zone - the description of Madras (Chennai) given by Stephen Harmison as he pondered whether to return - it has been pretty calm here, writes Michael Atherton in the Times.

The most tempting thing in the aftermath of terrorism is to exaggerate the danger and the effects on daily life. After all, if you want to drive into Lord's the day before a Test match, you have to let the sniffer dogs do their bit there as well. As it happened, I didn't have my pass on the day I arrived here, but I managed to walk through the gates of the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium and out to the middle without anybody asking to see it. The chief sports writer from the Daily Mirror (and you know it's a big story when the “chiefs” arrive) got in by showing his FA Cup pass.

Would you enjoy watching a cricket game surrounded by 5,000 soldiers and 300 commandos, or whatever the numbers are? Heck, there would be more armed soldiers in the stadium than spectators, and nobody enjoys cricket more than Indian spectators, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Hindu.

There is one golden rule in India: expect the unexpected. So it was entirely in keeping with a city where all police leave has been cancelled, that the scariest moment an England player has had here so far came on Wednesday in the securest place possible - the pavilion, writes Simon Hughes in the Telegraph.

At about 11am in a small conference room the trophy for the series was unveiled in the presence of the two captains. A posse of photographers and cameramen surged uncontrollably forward amidst a cacophony of shouts of "Over here Kevin!" and "Look this way Mahendra!" and a scrum ensued, exceeding anything the England rugby team have produced of late. For a moment the rifle-bearing security personnel were flummoxed and there were a few alarmed faces. Order was soon restored.

India have more important things than world rankings to consider tomorrow, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.

Dhoni undoubtedly spoke for Tendulkar and many others when he said on the eve of the game: "The best thing that I could give to India at this juncture is a good game of cricket. That is what we are here to do as professional cricketers." In some ways, there are echoes of Liverpool Football Club and what happened at Hillsborough in 1989. Both tragedies could have been avoided with greater foresight, but after weeks of grieving, Liverpool's footballers decided that the best possible homage to the 96 that lost their lives was to go on and win the FA Cup.

It will be the biggest achievement of Pietersen's career. Millions of Indians will never forget that KP and his England team had the courage to turn up, just as the Irish have never forgotten what happened back in 1973 at the height of those euphemistic "troubles", writes Mark Reason in the Telegraph

That day the England rugby team played the most significant match in their history. Over the previous 12 months Ireland had been crippled by violence. Both Scotland and Wales had refused to travel to Dublin. On 'Bloody Sunday' the British army had shot dead 13 people. The IRA then set off 22 bombs in Belfast on 'Bloody Friday'.

Andy Flower, England's batting coach has been this way before. In Delhi in March 1993 he batted in a Test match, Zimbabwe's first overseas, just days after explosions in Bombay (now Mumbai) had killed more than two hundred people, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian.

"I think living in Zimbabwe gave us a different perspective. Sometimes I watch our guys [the England squad] and don't quite understand their skittishness about some of the situations they find themselves in." But Flower acknowledges the huge difference in upbringing. "In Zimbabwe we used to travel around with a pistol in the car. On a long trip, say to Bulawayo, we'd travel with a shotgun. We would drive in convoy and we would have machine guns on some of the vehicles. So we became hardened to the harsh facts of life. It is tougher for these guys to adjust to all the guns around."

Also in the Guardian, David Hopps says that Pietersen is fast becoming the most powerful England captain for a generation.

Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain were tough cookies, but they were answerable to Duncan Fletcher, the coach. Pietersen makes no such concessions to Peter Moores. He talks of "my team" and he won the argument for a less intensive training regime than in New Zealand last winter. And, in a major political crisis, while Pietersen has held counsel, Moores has remained in the background.

December 10, 2008

How to win in India

Posted on 12/10/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Keep them gloves handy, mate! © Getty Images

On the BBC website, Tom Fordyce asks Justin Langer, Mike Gatting and Shaun Udal about the things England must do to win the Test series against India.

Preparing for the task on hand is perhaps half the battle won.

"You know it'll be hot in India, so for example you have to bring enough pairs of batting gloves so that you've always got a dry pair," says Gatting.

"Get yourself well organised and you'll have fewer dramas.

"A lot of touring India is accepting what you're getting in terms of the cricket and culture. Accept the sort of fields you're going to get, the conditions you're going to find, and select players who can deal with that."

Read South Africa coach Mickey Arthur's ten tips to win in India on Cricinfo.

No right answer for England

Posted on 12/10/2008 in English cricket

	The reason for Flintoff's yes: Team unity or IPL lure? © AFP

In his post on the Wisden Cricketer blog, Lawrence Booth says the decisions and statements made by the England team in the past few days will provoke different reactions from the media. Here's one of the three examples he provides:

Event 2: Andrew Flintoff sings the praises of team unity

Interpretation A: Flintoff’s contention that “one of the reasons I decided to go was for my team-mates” is a glowing endorsement of England’s team spirit and a sign of the increasing maturity of our sportsmen. After all, seven years ago Andy Caddick and Robert Croft pulled out of the tour to India in the aftermath of 9/11. This time, and without pressure from their bosses, England’s cricketers have embraced the bigger picture.

Interpretation B: Flintoff and his mate Steve Harmison could not afford to miss out on the opportunity to impress in the home of the Indian Premier League. A fortnight’s window in the IPL remains open to England’s players in the spring and runs and wickets in Chennai and – fingers crossed – Mohali could catch the franchise owners’ eyes. Would such unity have been on display in, say, Pakistan?

Test cricket in need of global solution

Posted on 12/10/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Congratulations, England, and welcome to India ... it's never been safer © AFP

Christopher Martin-Jenkins, in the Times, says it is good that England are in India because it shows that normal life can proceed even after the horrors in Mumbai. On a more mundane cricketing level, it is good also because India’s recent Test success must be helping to put the Twenty20 bubble into perspective.

All this ought to get everyone talking about Test cricket, which is what anyone who understands the game wants. That is not to denigrate the new spectators who have been attracted to the more superficial excitements of the aggressively marketed Twenty20 version.

But exciting, competitive Test cricket ought to teach them that the two-innings game is subtler, tougher, more profound, interesting and satisfying. The trouble is that Test cricket, or rather the administrators who have let it drift on too aimlessly in too much profusuion for too long, have pushed their luck too far.

Mike Atherton, who replaced Martin-Jenkins as cricket correspondent of Times last year, says in his column that a shabby bit of paper, A4 size, with ragged edges as if it had been torn from a notebook in haste, relayed England’s message of unity and commitment.

The last handwritten note of importance by a member of the England cricket team was from Mike Gatting in Faisalabad in 1987 when he was forced to apologise in writing to Shakoor Rana, the umpire, after their infamous altercation. Unlike on that occasion, however, when Gatting misspelt Faisalabad, the spelling and syntax were perfect.

Duncan Fletcher believes England have made the right decision to return to India, but it should never have been as big an issue as it became. If you don't visit India now, you may as well never visit, says Fletcher in his Guardian column.

In the same newspaper, Rob Bagchi takes pride in the land of his father. For those once politely known as an Anglo-Indian, the India v England Test in Chennai is a resonant one, he says.

At Headingley I got my chance to see India in the flesh and my first impressions were far from favourable. Only a year before Iqbal Qasim had been skelped by a Bob Willis bouncer and looking at these apparently frail men — short in stature, some bespectacled and the majority irredeemably square when compared to England's young cavaliers, Ian Botham and David Gower — I feared for their safety.

While his father would "bang on"about Rabindranath Tagore or Satyajit Ray, a young Bagchi would impatiently try to steer the conversation back to Vinoo Mankad and Vijay Merchant.

With many hoping Monty Panesar plays a key role for England in the spin-friendly conditions of Chennai and Mohali this series, how can he go about realising his undoubted potential? Sam Lyon in BBC Sport believes it may appear churlish to pick holes in Panesar's game so early into his career.

While much of the focus has, inevitably, been on the England team's decision to return to India despite the recent Mumbai attacks, the attention must now switch to the real reason for them being here. Jonathan Agnew in his column on BBC Sport believes it is easier for England to come and play these games because, ultimately, they have no real bearing on anything. Perhaps, because this series needs to be played - just as cricket has to continue in Pakistan, too.

If the BCCI has learned anything from this tragic affair, it should be that it needs all of its friends and allies all of the time and, occasionally, that it must listen to them.

In England's case, that means the entirely reasonable request made before every tour for the major matches to be staged in large centres so the many thousands of England supporters can come to watch.

December 9, 2008

Birth of international cricket

Posted on 12/09/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Since Giles Clarke became chairman, the ECB has found itself being increasingly out-manouvered by India on just about every major cricketing issue © Getty Images

Many experts may feel international cricket is currently in shambles but Mihir Bose believes that for the first time in cricket's history, we are witnessing the emergence of a truly international set-up, one that is not under the control of a western power. He writes in his BBC column:

Cricket may be the oldest of ball games - indeed the English County Championship was the template for the English Football League - but as a truly international sport it is a mere child when compared with others, not much more than a couple of decades old. Before then, cricket revolved around the Ashes series between England and Australia. Many of the greats of English cricket never played a Test in the subcontinent because B teams were sent between 1934 and 1976. Nigel Howard has the unique record of having played for England only as captain in India. As for Australia, they were so dismissive of their neighbour, New Zealand, that after touring there in 1946 their next visit was in the 70s. Essentially, India, Pakistan and New Zealand made up the B league, tolerated but not important.

In his blog on Daily Mail Paul Newman finds it hard to accept that England have returned to India for the 'good of the game' and 'for the Indian people'.

It seems to me that England are being put forward to be sacrificed, in a purely cricketing sense, in the name of what is best not for the game but for the money men. And for the ECB who, since Giles Clarke became chairman, have found themselves being increasingly out-manouvered by India on just about every major cricketing issue. This, surely, is their way of clawing back lost ground, of getting back in Modi's good books in the hope of attracting Indian players to the new English Premier League in 2010, a commercial necessity, and clearing the path of England's players to the Indian Premier League next April. Not to mention the ECB's hopes of getting a share of the vast television fortunes on offer if and when the Champions League eventually gets off the ground.

The Hindu's Nirmal Shekar writes that Kevin Pietersen’s team rallied with clear-eyed pragmatism and chose the difficult yet correct path which will be a lasting testimony to their sense of duty and professionalism.

In cricketnirvana.com, G Rajaraman writes that to suggest money is the only reason for England's decision is to foolishly overlook the symbiotic relationship between sport and civil society.

December 8, 2008

'Fainthearts' find courage

Posted on 12/08/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Amjad Khan has been very much on England's radar since he was awarded British citizenship two years ago © Getty Images

What Harmison and Flintoff have done in the end is what all lovers of English cricket hoped they would do from the start. They have responded, at a difficult time, to the responsibilities that come along with fame and its various rewards. James Lawton in the Independent believes whatever lies behind England's decision to return to India, it is the right choice and restores respect.

For this the players, who were described as fainthearts on one famously august editorial page when they returned home for their week-long agonising about what to do, deserve a word of gratitude, if not garlands of flowers in streets of the troubled land they vacated so sharply.

The other hope, of course, is that the woeful lack of competitiveness displayed in the truncated 5-0 one-day series defeat, will not descend into new levels of disaster.

Amjad Khan, the latest addition to English cricket's vibrant multi-cultural tradition, has been very much on England's radar since he was awarded British citizenship two years ago. And his selection is entirely justified in cricketing terms and yet perhaps it also has the advantage of underlining a subliminal message, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

In the Times, Patrick Kidd studies the mood of the England camp during the course of the two-hour briefing.

Another half an hour passed and Harmison came out from the lift with Sean Morris and went over to the desk to sign his bill. Harmison’s face was grim. “He looks p***ed off,” one journalist said. “Must be going [to India], then” another added. And so it proved.

Off the beaten track, Kidd reveals in his Line and Length blog for the same paper how technology ditched him for more than a few anxious moments in his hotel room - any journalist's nightmare.

I got into my room, unpacked my bag and pressed the on button on the computer. That was when my rather temperamental laptop went on strike. One press, nothing. Pressed it again, a slight whirr and then nothing. I kept on trying, fiddling with the cable in the back of it, all the time being aware of the passing minutes and the fact that I had a lot to write in not much time.

December 7, 2008

Captain Kev a winner even if team lose

Posted on 12/07/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	'As captain, Kevin Pietersen must take some of the credit for the outcome' © AFP

England players need only turn up for Test in Chennai to achieve a result, says Vic Marks in the Observer. A return to India would be the most positive outcome of a ghastly winter for England so far, says Marks, and both Kevin Pietersen and Hugh Morris, England's managing director, must take some of the credit for the outcome.

We can quibble about the excessive agonising of the England squad and their demands for presidential levels of security. We can speculate about the horse trading that may have gone on after Dominic Cork had warned us that five players would not be returning to India. But the bald fact is that they are going back to India, provided their security adviser, Reg Dickason, gives his final thumbs-up. For that they should be applauded.

In his Sunday Times column, David Gower says so far, so good for Pietersen, but he is likely to face much tougher tests on and off the field this month.

Over in the Independent, Stephen Brenkley says England's top order must stand up and sit in. A Test is actually going to take place so attrition is key for England's batsmen while bowlers with nous must act as leaders.

The mutual pats on the back for a job jolly well done will last until the finish a week tomorrow. This is a return to normality which is abnormal. It is engineered, sculpted to fit pressing needs, it is cricket that is force-fed, battery farmed, genetically modified, artificially inseminated.

Brenkley also feels that this tour is strictly business, because England's return to India will be rewarded when multi-million-dollar IPL contracts are handed out.

December 6, 2008

Let's play cricket

Posted on 12/06/2008 in England in India 2008-09

In the Times of India, sports historian Boria Majumdar says that England's return to India for two Tests poses a series of critical questions for cricket administrators and fans.

Is the BCCI justified in hastening the resumption of cricket ties on home soil? Are the English coming back to India because money continues to talk and talk strong? Is the resumption an aberration and will subcontinental cricket never be the same again following the Mumbai horror? And are we confronted with the possibility of a racial divide in world cricket with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka having lost appeal for players from the rest of the world?

England's hesitant cricketers have been left embarrassed by a lack of perspective, says James Lawton in the Independent.

Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison are pacing the opulent grounds of their Abu Dhabi hotel wondering, like Hamlet, whether to be or not to be. To be, that is, at least as heroic as any other traveller to any of those large swathes of the world map that offer something less than guaranteed safety.

In his column for the Hindu, Peter Roebuck says England's decision to return to India is a gesture worthy of appreciation. The heroes of those ghastly hours in Mumbai need to be backed up, writes Roebuck.

In Abu Dhabi, the Times' Patrick Kidd watched England practice at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, and says that sunburn is the only threat for the players.

In the Hindustan Times, Kadambari Murali Wade comments on England's travel habits and Pakistani hospitality. The question is whether England will be able to look beyond their Playstations once they arrive in India.

December 5, 2008

Why England must tour

Posted on 12/05/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Mark Lawson writes in the Guardian that England must tour India for the same reasons that they boycotted Zimbabwe and apartheid-era South Africa. He also explains how the Mumbai strikes are different from the London bombing during the 2005 Ashes and lists some of the challenges facing England's cricketers when they tour India.

The traditional features of the sport - length, leisureliness and lack of physical barriers between players and crowd - conspire to make it irrelevant in the aftermath of a bloodbath. Of all sports, cricket allows most time for thinking, and the negative thoughts that some of the squad will be suffering can not simply be dismissed

In the same paper, Mike Selvey says that there is a recent trend of players feeling the need for excessive security.

While the England team wait for the security report to give them the all-clear, Angus Fraser makes a strong case in the Independent for tour to go ahead.

If there is one thing in India that can help heal the horrific damage that has taken place it is cricket ... India cannot and should not forget what took place last week but it needs cricket to help it recover. If normality is to return conversation has to go back to Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Counting the cost of cricket

Posted on 12/05/2008 in England in India 2008-09

The price we may have to pay for international cricket at a time like this cannot be measured simply in terms of rupees or dollars, writes Nirmal Shekar in the Hindu.

Can a starry-eyed kid who has dreamed all his brief life of shaking hands with a Pietersen or a Ponting or a Tendulkar ever hope to proffer his shivering, sweaty hand to his idol near the pavilion without a duty-bound commando brushing him aside quickly?

Can a visiting player who has always enjoyed soaking up the local culture through leisurely evening visits to the bazaars and malls and eating places ever think of doing it anymore, unmolested and unguarded and without a million fears haunting him?

December 4, 2008

Players need to make cricket loved again

Posted on 12/04/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Kevin Pietersen is trying to unite a wary England as the India tour resumes © Getty Images

The cricket world is a small world, but wherever you look the picture is a disintegrating one, writes Mike Atherton in his latest Times column. While the omens for a good India versus England are not good, says Atherton, now, more than ever, the game needs something to cheer.

An excerpt:

“Take your PlayStations and your DVDs” was the advice given to this newspaper on Tuesday by a security adviser milking the situation for all it was worth, “because you will not be going out of your hotel of an evening.” If he had his way, you suspect body doubles, lookalikes and food tasters would need to be provided before he deemed it safe to go. Mind you, in Australia two winters ago a member of the England team was seen going to collect his laundry with a security guard in tow. Practise, play, room service; practise, play, room service. It is not much of a way to play cricket - not much of a way to live.

According to Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, England should not have been so eager to go back to India while the hosts should not have been so eager to ask them. Far from being played for the right reasons, says Brenkley, the series is being played for the wrong ones.

A greater cause for concern is the World Cup of 2011, says veteran Indian journalist R Mohan in the Asian Age. The England Test series may be resurrected and run under the tightest possible security cover in what may be termed as safe cities, says the writer, but what will the terror scenario be around an event that is to be held 24 months or so down the road in some of the most volatile places?

When the smoke clears and the dust settles cricket may regret the haste with which bags have been packed and matches cancelled, writes Peter Roebuck in the latest edition of Sportstar.

December 2, 2008

Miracle Mets show England the way

Posted on 12/02/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Writing in The Guardian, Andy Bull believes England should go back to India, and cites the example of the New York Mets baseball team, who resumed playing only weeks after the September 11 attacks, and embarked on a winning run that earned them the nickname "Miracle Mets".

They won, in fact, each of their first six games after 9/11, thrilling their fans and delighting the city as they did so. Back pages were again filled with headlines about the 'Miracle Mets'. Their hitter Mike Piazza commented: "we expect to win every game right now ... because we're playing completely relaxed, even during what should be the most tense of circumstances."

Winning against England no triumph

Posted on 12/02/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Pause a moment before calling India's ODI series win against England a triumph for the opposition was a rag-tag bunch with only one class one-day batsman in Kevin Pietersen, writes V Gangadhar in the Outlook magazine.

During his frequent injury-induced absences from the game, Flintoff appears to have forgotten the art of batting. Bell, Collingwood, Owais Shah, Bopara, Prior and the rest made guest appearances at the crease and disappeared. On the bowling front, James Anderson conceded more than six runs per over and after four matches was yet to take a wicket. And he is their opening bowler! ... Add to their troubles the slow turners, sight screens which seldom worked properly, light which faded around 4 pm, the stupid refusal to switch on the lights and get on with the game.

December 1, 2008

You're not going to win

Posted on 12/01/2008 in Security concerns

England have returned home following the Mumbai attacks and though the Tests are scheduled to be played it still isn't clear if the team will come back to India. The Times' Simon Barnes feels England have an opportunity to say something important, loudly, triumphantly and publicly, something that is best said in the most robust language possible, and it is this. F*** all terrorists. You're not going to f***ing win.

When you take a big wicket or score a big century, you are not alone because the country celebrates with you. When you fail, when you mess it all up and, say, get drunk on tour and need to be rescued from a pedalo, the country jumps on you. That's the deal: those who are up to it are paid handsomely, and quite right, too. It follows, then, that an England cricketer is not morally entitled to think like a private person. Like me, for example, or you. An England cricketer can't duck out of a tour like a tourist. He has to think bigger than that. That's the job he signed on for. We pay an athlete to inspire us. Flintoff batting in the Ashes series of 2005, Flintoff taking Australia wickets and inflating his chest like a Lilo, Flintoff consoling Brett Lee in England's victory; these things matter to us. They are the sort of things a great athlete does, and at such times we know they are worth every penny of the money they receive.

The Guardian's David Hopps heads to Ahmedabad to see the preparations carried out for the first Test between India and England scheduled to start on December 11.

England will stay in the Fortune ­Landmark, a 20-minute drive from the stadium which is made quicker when you represent Team England and rush-hour traffic is being cleared by armed police escorts with blaring horns. Behind the duty manager's desk at the hotel today lay a fresh consignment of CCTV cameras, not yet unpacked. While Neerah Gewali, the assistant manager, explained how ­England would be protected, an Ahmedabad crime prevention unit arrived at the front desk to issue new instructions for all.

November 29, 2008

An unofficial rose

Posted on 11/29/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Australia is beaten; England demoralised by now. Does this portend cricket's Indian era, asks Rohit Mahajan in the latest edition of Outlook. It would seem, he says, that India are playing the best cricket in the world. But India are not No. 1.

India moved to No. 2, marginally ahead of South Africa, in Tests with the win over the Aussies. South Africa, though, will be back at No. 2 with a certain whitewash of Bangladesh. In ODIs, the Indians need to whitewash England 7-0 to move to the second spot behind Australia. Currently, they're fifth. Most experts are unequivocal in their opinion that while India are on their way up and Australia down, neither has reached the point that alters equations significantly.

November 28, 2008

Calm and perspective needed

Posted on 11/28/2008 in England in India 2008-09

At their blog, The Wisden Cricketer magazine's editor, John Stern, calls for greater perspective in the wake of the terrorist attacks in India.

The chances of England returning for the two-Test series in India seems negligible. I can’t believe that there is much appetite among the players to return so unless the ECB force them to go back, which is inconceivable, then the Tests are off.

This is a shame. Totally understandable, even inevitable, but a shame nonetheless. On the one hand, sport can seem utterly trivial at times of great tragedy and personal suffering. But on the other, this is when sport can show its best side, it can be a force for good, a symbol of public resilience, of normality, a sign that we will carry on with our lives in the face of vile pressure. Above all, it is a chance to remember why we love this game, its capacity to bring fun, entertainment and excitement into our lives.

I didn’t expect Kevin Pietersen to be standing in the lobby of his Bhubaneshwar hotel saying: “We ain’t going nowhere.” Nor did I really expect Lalit Modi to be saying with such certainty that the Tests would go ahead. “There is no problem with that,” is possibly one of the most glib statements I’ve ever heard from a cricket administrator and (to paraphrase Blackadder) you can imagine there’s some pretty stiff competition. Was it stiff-upper-lip Dunkirk spirit from Modi or was it textbook grandstanding from the man who effectively runs world cricket? I know where my money is.

In contrast, Miles Jupp provides a more whimsical look at a possible England team meeting...

As preparation for the Fifth ODI in Cuttack, England opted to have a team meeting rather than a practice session. The following is a transcript of a tape recording of their meeting in the team room at the hotel made by a private detective.

We can hear talking, laughing and the noise of darts and table tennis being played.

Peter Moores: Excuse me everybody. Excuse me.

There is the noise of more chattering and giggling. Someone is doing what sounds like an impression of Bob Willis.

Moores: C’mon now, guys. Let’s have a bit of quiet. Can you come away from the pool table for a moment?

The chattering gets louder.

Moores: (mildly) Kevin, would you mind getting them all to…?

KP: EVERYBODY SHUT UP.

November 27, 2008

Flintoff's vision of the future is just a rehash of the past

Posted on 11/27/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Just to help those deluded enough to think that like sexual intercourse and Philip Larkin's 1963, cricket only began with the inauguration of the IPL, and that all skills and thinking prior to that were Neanderthal, here is a brief and by no means exclusive list of things that were around in the misty past, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

1. Yorkers Have players not heard of Ray Lindwall, Charlie Griffiths, or the Big Bird, Joel Garner? Have a look at footage of the 1979 World Cup final and marvel. You do not just decide to bowl a yorker and do so: it needs to be felt, as readily as a natural length. The change of length amounts to a third of a pitch. A top bowler should be able to shut his eyes and find a length. The same should apply to yorkers.

2. Slower balls A one-day staple, with increased variety and invention. But bowlers have always used them. Mine was crap, I admit, like Steve Harmison's, but even that has its moments. Three decades ago I was bowled out by Eddie Barlow with something that simply disappeared, while no one has ever bowled a more destructive slower ball than the Barbadian all-rounder Franklyn Stephenson.

The argument that IPL and Twenty20 have taken one-day cricket to a new level and England players are in danger of missing out is a cunning but false one, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

It is difficult to understand how the IPL is going to help England to turn around their one-day fortunes. On form, who would be a potential buy for franchise owners feeling the chill winds of recession? Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen, for sure, and maybe men such as Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel. Agents may have sore knuckles from knocking on the door of franchise owners, but other clients have not exactly made a compelling case for inclusion this past month.

November 26, 2008

Bleak outlook for barren Moores

Posted on 11/26/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Facing yet another one-day humiliation, England's coach Peter Moores knows his time in the top job is rapidly running out, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

A year and a half, in which time Moores has supervised 66 matches in various formats, is an adequate time in which to form a picture and it is not looking too favourable. Brickbats came his way last winter for the boot-camp approach to training and as, one senior player told me at the time, his "in your face" approach compared unfavourably with Fletcher's assertive but considered and unobtrusive style. Moores has been forced to adapt, which is not a sign of strength. In his captain, Kevin Pietersen, he has a dominant personality who was known not to have a close relationship with him and who likes his own way. Moores' influence, already thinning, has been diluted further.

Michael Vaughan is full of enthusiasm as he talks about life with the young England hopefuls who aspire to achieve a fraction of what he has, writes Paul Newman in the Daily Mail.

‘Do you know what? This is exactly what I needed,’ says the former captain who won the Ashes. ‘To be taken back to where I started. There’s no luxury, no staying at five-star accommodation. I’m in a real refreshed state of mind, just looking forward to getting out there and working on my game. I haven’t done that for a while.’

Vaughan is with the England Performance Squad in Bangalore, staying at spartan digs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and looking forward to the rest of his life. It is a life that he insists will include more Test cricket for England. He looks fit, tanned and younger than his 34 years.

November 25, 2008

From opposite ends

Posted on 11/25/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Having a ball: Zaheer Khan © AFP

Not for the first time, a fantastic bowling performance was ignored and the Man of the Match was given to Virender Sehwag in Bangalore when it should have gone to Zaheer Khan. Suresh Menon in his column on Dreamcricket.com says Zaheer's spell, 5-0-20-2 would have been spectacular in a full match, but was incredible considering the game was reduced to 22 overs.

A bad opening spell could have turned the match, but Zaheer allowed no liberties to be taken. It was a wonderful example of accurate bowling in a one-day game, allowing the ball to do just enough to command respect.

It was good to see the authority with which he set the field for Ishant, who, in an interview after the match gave the senior man full credit for instilling in him confidence.

While India have embraced the new challenges of one-day cricket, David Hopps in the Guardian believes England have remained stuck in the past. England seem to have been embroiled in very English discussions about bureaucracy which didn't address the core challenge of producing powerful, aggressive players fit for a rapidly-changing game. A study in contrasts which has led to a horribly one-sided contest.

India replaced Rahul Dravid as captain and Greg Chappell as coach, judging both to be resistant to change, appointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an inspirational captain armed with considerable power, and brazenly flaunted their economic power with the advent of the Indian Premier League. England appointed from within to prove that their system was working, shuffled chairs in the corridors of power, and as far as their own Twenty20 league was concerned, lost focus and ambition.

It is not just the series scoreline which has put a strain on Kevin Pietersen at the top. It is the sniping and the second-guessing that habitually surround English sport, which has seen him get a taste of what the England captaincy was like for so many of his predecessors. Simon Briggs has more in the Telegraph.

This winter, England have failed at Twenty20, failed at 50-over cricket and last week they even failed at 49-over cricket. In Bangalore, however, they had an excellent chance to turn their luck around in a Twenty-two22 match. King Cricket in his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website outlines a three-point plan to help arrest the decline.

November 24, 2008

England out of order and out of contention

Posted on 11/24/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Owais Shah's blitz gave England hope in Bangalore but they fell 19 runs short © AFP

The dash for runs was only a couple of overs longer than a Twenty20 chase. Unfortunately, England's conservatism in the batting order meant that they were always behind the target, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.

The opening partnership of Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara should have been split. Bell is a good foil for a quick scorer - I always thought he would bat well alongside Marcus Trescothick - but not a crackerjack in his own right. And it was asking too much of Bopara - the number eight this time last week - to take on Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel from the start with the required rate standing at nine per over. An experienced hitter should have been promoted.

It took a lot of monsoon and a lot of Duckworth-Lewis to devise England's target. But, however demanding 198 in 22 overs appeared, the disruption was slightly in their favour. They had been severely up against it when the second downpour arrived, India's 106 for one in 17 leaving them well placed for another score in excess of 300, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

England's start had been feeble, repressed and thoroughly demoralising. After every unproductive over, one thought "this must be the low spot" only to discover that another over later there was another. In the first six overs of pace England did not middle a ball and scrambled to 21 for one in thoroughly embarrassing manner. Indians in the crowd laughed. The match felt lost.

England bowed out of this one-day series as they began, outplayed, outwitted, and out of ideas. To lose four games over a seven-match series in India would not be unusual for many visiting teams, but to lose four in a row, even if two of them did involve the arcane Duckworth-Lewis method, suggests a side long on inflexibility and short of solutions," writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

For many of England's batsmen with ambitions of playing in the Indian Premier League, the run-chase would have been the perfect time to advertise their wares to any watching franchise-holders. But if they began with Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara looking like they were bargain basement and two for the price of one, Shah and Flintoff caught the eye with some superb ball-striking.

In the same paper, Geoffrey Boycott asks: how can you go out to bat for 22 overs, with the required run-rate hovering around nine runs per over, and leave your two most destructive players sitting on their backsides in the pavilion?

Poor weather may have prevented England from clawing their way back in to the seven match series in Kanpur, but it helped Kevin Pietersen’s side here. England’s Duckworth/Lewis adjusted target of 198 in 22 overs was always going to be tough to chase down, but it was easier than chasing around 350, the 50 over target India looked set to post before rain interrupted their innings, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

November 23, 2008

England think tank overlooks spin

Posted on 11/23/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Graeme Swann, England's specialist spinner, didn't play the first two ODIs © Getty Images

Continuing with the formula that worked against South Africa at Lord's on the turning pitches of India is sheer folly, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.

Somehow, England forgot the basics upon arrival and were 2-0 down in the blink of an eye. In India, proper spinners are required. I thought we all knew that. England have one in their squad - Graeme Swann - and for two matches, he carried the drinks. His presence in the third game at Kanpur on Thursday could not change the result, but at least the captain had somewhere to turn.

And so England are 3-0 down in the series. They are improving; of that there can be no doubt. But they are also losing, and brave defeats must be for the romantics only. There are still too many nagging questions about both the composition of England's optimum XI in these conditions and the form of certain players, writes Steve James in the Telegraph.

Paul Collingwood, in particular, worries me. His groping around against the spinners in Kanpur was all too reminiscent of his travails last summer. He is not alone, but he seems at present to be finding Harbhajan Singh harder to read than Dostoyevsky. And while wicketkeeper Matt Prior has no such problems deciphering Pietersen's part-time twirlers, he missed a leg-side stumping in Kanpur and with it, according to Pietersen, a golden chance to win the match. That is a harsh judgment. But Prior does look short of confidence.

Steve James also caught up with India coach Gary Kirsten.

There is quite simply no coaching job like it in cricket. Its last two occupants, John Wright and Greg Chappell, have also been outsiders. And their tenures were not exactly a bed of roses. So is Kirsten worried? Is he heck. And it is not just the Indians' current on-field brilliance that promotes such a remarkable calm. This is Kirsten's nature. He is unflappable. He is confident in his abilities. And while he goes about his work quietly and unobtrusively, India are playing some astoundingly skilful cricket. It is a powerful, if unexpected, mix.

England can keep the series alive today but the jury is still out on Peter Moores, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

Moores’s relationship with the media was shaped by a desire not to be the man who went before him. Duncan Fletcher had been taciturn and mistrustful of the media, so Moores set himself to be nonconfrontational and upbeat. The strategy has worked. So far he has been given a gentle ride ...

... There is anecdotal evidence, too, of Moores ruffling the players’ feathers. Last month Pietersen let slip that one reason England had not performed well in Sri Lanka and New Zealand was that they had spent too much time on fitness work.

England had Sidebottom's back scanned here yesterday, and sent the results for analysis, which last night confirmed a tear that rules him out of the one-day series. He will remain here in the hope that he will recover fitness for the Test series, but some judges - and there are a few former international fast bowlers among them - suspect his brief, but successful, international career is as good as over, writes David Hopps in the Observer

November 22, 2008

Kevin Pietersen has plenty to prove to detractors

Posted on 11/22/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Yuvraj Singh played crucial innings in each of the first three ODIs © AFP

Kevin Pietersen is facing his first spell of criticism as England captain, with his side three down to India and only four one-day internationals to play, writes Michael Henderson in the Telegraph.

He [Pietersen] started well, and may yet surprise those people who are not entirely convinced by a manner that does its best to conceal doubt. But there are obvious fault lines, and they are becoming more apparent with each loss. The most important player in the side, Andrew Flintoff, has not always cared for his captain. Even the dogs in the street know that. That cannot help Pietersen because Flintoff enjoys the public acclaim that he lacks, for reasons that hardly require amplification. Flintoff, a match-winner in the heroic mould, is manifestly a team man, as was Ian Botham before him. He may enjoy the benefits that come with stardom, but those are incidental.

In the Guardian, Barney Ronay ponders the solution to England's biggest problem on the tour of India so far.

Ian Botham, in particular, seems flummoxed by England's inability to grasp this simple truth. It's as though all along England have been insisting that you've got to get Yuvraj late, or even not get Yuvraj at all. Or they've been putting off getting Yuvraj and doing other things instead, only to realise it's five o'clock in the afternoon and they're still in their dressing gowns surrounded by Irn-Bru cans, eating pickled onions out of the jar and watching Lionel Richie videos on YouTube. With a nagging sense that there was someone they should have got early... Oh dear. Yuvraj.

Until last month Yuvraj Singh was widely regarded around the world as a clean hitter unlikely to contribute when the ball was wobbling around or flying past his nostrils. In short, he fell short of the standard required by those seeking accreditation as Test match batsmen, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

Sourav Ganguly’s retirement provided an opening for contenders. It was up to them to state their case. At the start of these one-day matches, Yuvraj was an outsider. Badrinath had been the squad’s reserve batsman and Murali Vijay had made an accomplished first appearance in Nagpur. Yuvraj had to produce something special. Fifties and sixes and a few wickets was not going to force the selectors’ hand. Nor could he rely on a single scintillating innings. He had to show consistency and authority. Yuvraj accepted the challenge, pushing his case with two significant hundreds and handy work with the ball.

At the age of 30 and with a decade of international cricket behind him Andrew Flintoff would be forgiven for thinking that it was time his fellow fast bowlers began to share the burden of carrying England's attack in one-day cricket, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

The introduction of a batting Powerplay has removed the slightly more relaxed period from Flintoff's day. As England's best bowler he now bowls when the slog is on at the start, when the slog is on during the batting Powerplay and when the final slog is on between overs 45 and 50. It is little wonder that Flintoff walked off at Rajkot and Indore shaking his head and looking rather flustered. On most days Flintoff will have done well to concede less that 60 runs.

Fading light and falling fortunes

Posted on 11/22/2008 in England in India 2008-09

There was a four-nation title in Sharjah under Adam Hollioake 11 years ago, and they made the final of the ICC Champions Trophy at home in 2004, but England’s failure to come to terms with the 100-over game is becoming a baffling reality of cricket’s modern era, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express.

November 21, 2008

Indian riches may only go to Pietersen

Posted on 11/21/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Despite Lalit Modi's encouraging talk, in reality the IPL franchises are likely to bid for a select few of the England team, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

What I find most rib-tickling is the notion that, when or if the all-clear is given, England's finest will be pouring through the door and off down the road to riches. Perhaps in this they, or once again their agents, have been paying too much attention to what Modi has been saying, for he too plays games.

Only a few weeks ago he said he would love to have the English players. On the back of this we hear through Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, that many of the England team have received approaches from IPL franchises. At this point I prefer to suspend belief. On what basis would a franchise owner put in a bid for all but a very select few of the England team? Net fodder? Were I a franchiser and I wanted reinforcements, I would make a start in the Caribbean. Instead, for the idea of multiple approaches look no further than the same agents, whose interest on behalf of their clients is to shout their availability from the roof tops.

The current boom in cricket pricing is the result of the seemingly unending enthusiasm of the Indian consumer, the relative, and often willing lack of competition from other Indian sport and the heady economic situation here, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.

That is what worries me the most. Cricket’s financial ambitions rest on one shaky premise; that India will continue to generate enough resources to finance everyone else. To prevent that from happening, each country will have to generate its own revenues, as they had been doing before mega television deals for the ICC became reality. However, having tasted a gulab jamun they are unlikely to be happy with a dry roti. Expectations are now irrational.

Also in the Guardian, Dileep Premachandran says, "If the English players were allowed into the IPL they might acquire the dash and flair they so badly need."

A lack of common sense

Posted on 11/21/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Kevin Pietersen talks to the umpires about the fading light in Kanpur © AFP

A reshuffled England fought hard but were again found wanting, their frustration heightened by a farcical finale, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

The match was delayed by 45 minutes for morning mist, but nonsensically the overs were reduced only by one over per side to 49. By 4.30pm, the light was predictably fading, and even though England's spinners were bowling, umpires Russell Tiffin and Amiesh Saheba offered India bad light and victory by the dreaded Duckworth-Lewis calculations.

The International Cricket Council is always changing its playing regulations, but one rule that it claims umpires can apply at any time is common sense, something utterly lacking in Kanpur, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

Unsurprisingly, India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting at the time, accepted the offer from umpires Russell Tiffin and Amit Saheba, though England's cricketers quickly surrounded the pair to complain. However, the light, hindered by a pall of smog that had lasted all day (it delayed the start by 45 minutes), was never going to improve, which left the remonstrations from captain Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who had bowled with unstinting pace and aggression, falling upon deaf ears.

The farcical and thoroughly unsatisfactory finish should not detract from the fact that India were the deserving winners for the third game on the trot," writes Jonathan Agnew on BBC Sport.

It was difficult not to have some sympathy for Pietersen and his hard working side as they fell to a third successive one-day defeat to India. When the umpires deemed that heavy smog had made the light unfit India, needing 43 runs in nine overs with five wickets to spare, were favourites to win, but plenty of matches have been lost from such situations in the past, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

The personnel were changed, the batting order rejigged, and the match was closer. But the result was the same. England are now 3-0 down in their one-day series with four matches still to play, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian.

As soon as officials announced a 9.45am start with as many as 49 overs a side, anyone who had been in Kanpur during the previous two afternoons could have predicted an unsatisfactory end to this contest, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.

I always assumed that Frank Keating had embellished the nickname (yes, I know, it was cruel even to imagine it for a minute) but in Indore I realised otherwise when I really was asked: "Where is Mr Iron Bottom?'' It is good to know that in the rapidly changing world of cricket some traditions never change, writes David Hopps in his tour diary for the Guardian.

It was in Indore against Central Zone in 1981-82 that Ian Botham bludgeoned 122 from 55 balls with 15 fours and seven sixes — said to be the best piece of hitting ever witnessed in the city. It was especially brilliant as it had the desperation of a man with a terrible hangover, half wanting to succeed, half wanting to get out and go and have a lie down.

Frank wrote in The Guardian the following morning about how that night he had been drinking with the man that Indore knew as Iron Bottom until dawn was approaching and that he had marvelled at his pulverizing of the Central Zone attack a few hours later. I've just tried to look up Frank's wondrous prose on Google but can't find it. Until I can the internet is not quite perfect after all.

November 20, 2008

Pietersen must embrace spin

Posted on 11/20/2008 in England in India 2008-09

'The England captain's blinkered view has not served his side well in the opening two one-day internationals in India,' says Mike Atherton in his piece in the Times.

Now the inference is clear: spinners, in the world according to the England captain, are allowed to play a role, but only in so far as they are there as fodder for batsmen. It is almost as if they are a subspecies. Why should spinners not be important in one-day cricket?

November 19, 2008

England accept power of spin

Posted on 11/19/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Monty Panesar could be called up if Graeme Swann's inclusion does not change England's fortunes © AFP

In today's Guardian, David Hopps says that England will accept the inevitability of India and choose a specialist spin bowler for the first time as they seek to recover from 2-0 down in the seven-match series. Though England have opted for Graeme Swann's offspin, don't be surprised if Monty Panesar gets called over to India, says Hopps.

The belated realisation that England cannot prosper in India without a specialist spin bowler begs the question about what is actually taught on the History GCSE syllabus. And if history makes no impact, then you might wish to consider current affairs instead: in the last Test played in Kanpur, against South Africa in April, India prepared the pitch to favour spin, then saw their spinners take 14 wickets in the match. Harbhajan Singh even took the new ball in the second innings.

Panesar, who flies out to India this week with the England Performance Squad, purportedly to prepare for the Test series, is England's finest spinner for a generation yet has been overlooked for the one-day squad in the belief that he should be regarded as a Test specialist. The irony is that he has been sounded out to play Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League.

L Sivaramakrishnan, in the Hindu, feels India's captain has taken his chances and come out successful. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is quick to think on his feet, feels the writer, giving his team an edge.

November 17, 2008

Dhoni's little detour

Posted on 11/17/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan,and RP Singh's trip from Rajkot to north-eastern Maharashtra for the inauguration of a local cricket tournament, before the second ODI against England, incurs the ire of Sharda Ugra in her blog in India Today, where she criticises the BCCI for allowing the players to attend the event in the midst of an ongoing international series.

It is not known whether the team protested in any way, made their displeasure known.

If they didn't, they should have. Either protested or leaked (which they can do quite expertly) in order to cause an uproar. If, however, they believe it was alright to toodle off to Bhandara, then maybe they do deserve to have all manner of dignitaries marching into changing room and grabbing seats in their viewing areas as used to happen.

If they did and were over-ruled, it is only a reflection of what the BCCI and its current bosses think of cricket. That they don't think of cricket at all.

November 16, 2008

England lacking motivation

Posted on 11/16/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Kevin Pietersen’s honeymoon as England captain is over © Getty Images

Humiliation is calling too often. Three times in the past fortnight England's one-day cricketers have felt its shame and embarrassment, writes Steve James in the Telegraph.

We sensed this was a distracted side, and now stronger and stronger evidence is unfolding before our very eyes. This is a sensitive issue among the team and its management. They resent such insinuations. Indeed, coach Peter Moores was defiantly denying them again yesterday. But he should know there is only one sure way of knocking them stone-dead: by his team performing in the middle. Tomorrow in Indore would be a good place to start. Six matches remain in the series and much can still be achieved.

England players' minds may be elsewhere amid exotic charms of India but pace attack lacking spice must stand tall with new ball, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent on Sunday.

One-day cricket is all about momentum. England had it at the end of the summer when they were thrashing South Africa, then ranked second best in the world, 4-0. Time away can cause the commodity to be diluted, and England's players had a six-week break between the final game against South Africa and travelling to Antigua.

But it is more likely that focus was lost in the preparation for the match against Stanford's Super Stars. Few sportsmen have the chance to earn $1m for a night's work, but the constant questioning the England players faced about money and the integrity of the game they were about to play must have led them to wonder if they really wanted to win it. To go into a match where so much is at stake with such an attitude would be a unique experience, and England could still be trying to come to terms with these emotions.

Kevin Pietersen’s honeymoon as England captain is over - Stanford, Mumbai seconds and Rajkot have seen to that - and it is a moot point as to whether his personal crisis is bigger or smaller than Ricky Ponting’s, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times. Ponting lost the plot tactically in defeat in Nagpur and got himself run out in the process. The same can be said for Pietersen in Rajkot, where he inserted India, only to see them post the highest ODI total against England. Pietersen once admitted that he was hopeless at reading pitches; he is going to have to learn fast.

More than sheer poetry or sublime timing, there was another quality, a very important one, that stood out in Yuvraj Singh's monumental blast on Friday afternoon: anger, writes Bobilli Vijay Kumar in the Times of India.

There is a lesson, a story, behind this anger. Cricketers in India are often placed on such a lofty pedestal that it won't be inappropriate to say they are 'high'. Sadly, some of them get so carried away by their own popularity that they don't know what to do when the inevitable 'tripping' begins. Lulled by a few successes, intoxicated by the adulation and accompanying riches, some of them slip into a state of complacency. Sooner or earlier, they start believing they are infallible, even untouchable; some think they just need to turn up on the ground for the magic to flow.

It doesn't take long for the bubble to burst though. But then, thankfully, there is a perfect remedy for this disease: the boot. More often than not, it works; once these thick-headed stars are thrown back into the system and confront anonymity, they realise their follies and try and catch up on lost time. Yuvraj, despite his love for the high life, may not fall into this category of players. But the exit from the Test squad, even if it was for just one series, has obviously helped.

When Yuvraj bats the way he did at Rajkot on Friday, a comparison with Richards may not be out of place. He has the same disdainful swagger, the same audacious stroke-play, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

The major difference is that while Richards can and did a Rajkot very often, in the best and worst of conditions and in both forms of the game, Yuvraj has lacked consistency and his Test failures are too galling for anyone to accord him the status reserved for the best. If one were to write his epitaph today, he would be summed up as a batsman who could destroy any attack, but in conditions favourable for batting. What must trouble Yuvraj is that long before Dhoni arrived, he was the chosen king. He is 26 now and even the vice-captaincy has been taken away from him.

November 15, 2008

Pietersen and Flintoff wasted down the order

Posted on 11/15/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Geoffrey Boycott is of the opinion that Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff should bat at higher positions © Getty Images

I would bat Pietersen at three and Collingwood at four. Who opens is a problem that, thankfully, I don’t have to solve, but perhaps England should look at pushing Flintoff up front, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Telegraph.

I have been saying for a long time that England have not got their top three right. Matt Prior is a very average batsman to be going in first for England. Ian Bell is a touch player who needs to have runs behind him and for his confidence to be high if he is going to be successful up front at international level ...

... As for Owais Shah, well anyone who believes that he is a No 3 for England wants his head testing. He is a good player in the lower middle order against the old ball. But if you have a borderline batsman who struggles to get in the team, why bat him at three in front of arguably one of the best two or three batsmen in the world in Pietersen and one of the best one-day batsmen in Paul Collingwood? It doesn’t make sense.

First came the Stanford jolly that all went terribly wrong. Next an embarrassing defeat in a warm-up against a Mumbai 2nd XI. To complete the hat-trick, England were trounced by India in their opening one-day international by 158 runs, conceded their highest total in an ODI, and succumbed to surely the most astounding innings ever produced by a man with a bad back, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

In his tour diary for the Guardian, Hopps writes, "India, of course, is not ''a third-world country''. India, as we have all been taught, is a ''land of contradictions.'' It is a land that can pay Hayden US$375,000 to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League then irritate him when it takes half-an-hour to move a sightscreen."

Several records were broken this morning in Rajkot but those that fell only increased England’s embarrassment as their tour of India began in disastrous style, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

Stellar names may be missing from the India side, but there can be no doubting the talent and professionalism of a team in transition. They were also better than England in areas such as running between the wickets and fielding, which have been key weaknesses in the past, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.

Here's Hobson's comment piece in the Times.

Anybody questioning how a side who thrashed South Africa 4-0 at the end of last season can have played so limply yesterday is bound to look at what happened in between. The conclusion must be that England lost more than the chance to win $1million a head on the Stanford mission. They forgot that playing cricket is a pleasure rather than a moral burden or a chore; that they are part of the entertainment industry and paid to put on a show.

November 14, 2008

Captains face battle of hooks and looks

Posted on 11/14/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	The one-day and Test series in India will be Kevin Pietersen's first overseas assignment as England captain © Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the centre of attention as England prepare to tackle India, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

Dhoni and Pietersen are the team's sexiest and most flamboyant players. They are entertainers, the type of cricketers fans here flock to see, and India's insatiable media cannot get enough of them. Each has the ability to thrill, combining the power, skill and daring needed to play an endless array of breathtaking strokes. They happen to be the captains of the two teams too. Each is inexperienced and over the next six weeks it will be fascinating to watch how they cope with the pressures that come with leading a team.

This is likely to be the biggest test Kevin Pietersen will face as England captain," writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail. It is all very well winning against South African players he knows well in English conditions, but a tour of India will tell us whether he is maturing as a leader heading for the Ashes - or is about to receive a major setback.

Graham Thorpe, Surrey's new batting coach, claims that success in India is all about playing the right angles, writes Lawrence Booth in the Guardian.

"The angles are different out there [in India]," he says, echoing a theme expounded in these pages yesterday by Duncan Fletcher, who presided over Thorpe's self-denying masterpiece at Lahore eight years ago. "Sometimes you can be playing on a pitch that doesn't turn much, so your angles are down the ground. But if the pitch does turn, the angles change. If you're looking to hit through midwicket then you almost need to be aiming through mid-on because the ball turns at such a sharp angle.

For a big fast bowler capable of bullying the world's best batsmen with his 90mph lifters, Steve Harmison cuts a nervous presence in Rajkot's Imperial Palace Hotel as he prepares for England's first one-day international against India, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

There are many who say that Sourav Ganguly couldn’t have timed his retirement better, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Hindu. However, personally speaking, I think he still had quite a bit of Test cricket in him. I think he should have played against England and then toured New Zealand, too, but then I’m no one to comment on his personal decision.

This is a team [India's] of mostly raw youngsters, which gives England its best chance to win a couple of quick games at the start of the series. While these young players may turn out to be excellent prospects for India, I’m not sure all of them have the ability to fill the very large boots left vacant.

November 13, 2008

Time for England and India to step up

Posted on 11/13/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Kevin Pietersen has to be careful about the way he motivates his players © AFP

While Australian dominance over the past 13 years has been based, like West Indies before them, on a happy confluence of a number of great cricketers in one generation, Australia's strength as a cricketing nation over a longer period of time has been systemic, which should ensure that its recession is a relatively shallow one, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Top-class batsmen and fielders, unlike great bowlers, can be mass-produced and the strength of Australian school, club and state cricket will ensure such a production line continues. Excellence in batting and fielding has become, as Ian Chappell once said, institutionalised.

But he goes on to say that while Australia are scrapping rather than dominating, India and England are the likeliest candidates to commit themselves to producing the kind of sustained excellence that West Indies and Australia managed over a long period.

India have a potential champion in Ishant Sharma, the first home pace bowler to win a man-of-the-series award in India since Kapil Dev in 1983, along with a decently stocked fast bowling cupboard and good spinners in Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra. England, too, are not short on firepower. It was more than just wicket-taking ability, though, that brought West Indies and Australia their periods of dominance. Each had something extra in their leaders and group of senior players: hunger, passion, desire and single-minded drive to succeed whatever the cost. Neither India nor England have yet shown enough of that, which makes the forthcoming series such a tantalising prospect.

In an interview with the Times of India, Gautam Gambhir is optimistic about India's chances of beating England.

In the Guardian, Duncan Fletcher lists out two challenges that Kevin Pietersen will face in India.

He has to be careful about the way he motivates the guys, he has to find a balance between overdoing it and not doing it enough to keep them going. They don't want to have to say "Get off my back, captain". He also needs to get used to the different field settings required in India. Depending on the line and length you bowl, fields need to be squarer than they are in England as the ball comes on to the bat so slowly That means it's harder to hit down the ground in India and shots you think are going through, say, mid-on end up going through midwicket instead.

November 12, 2008

South African guide to subcontinent success

Posted on 11/12/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Will Steve Harmison put India on the back foot? © Getty Images

Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, reveals a ten-step guide to succeed in the subcontinent, a task that awaits England in India. South Africa have won series under Arthur in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the past 12 months, and also drew a three-Test contest in India earlier this year.

Two of the ten factors he highlights in the Times:

7 Use your bouncer

Don't be scared to bowl bouncers. It's the seam bowlers' one weapon in India to stop their batters lunging forward all day long and that is why Stephen Harmison is crucial. None of the Indian batsmen pulls, they prefer to cut. You bowl your bouncer to keep the batsman in his crease for your next ball.

10 Play with field settings

We always say that in India “caught cover” is as good as “caught second slip” in our part of the world. Seam bowlers don't like getting wickets caught at cover but they need to change their mindset. Having catchers in front of the wicket is the Indian equivalent of second and third slips.

Any visiting team should be able to outfield India. Whereas Steyn might dive to stop a boundary at fine leg, Ishant Sharma will stick a boot out and it will go for four. India's fielding has improved but they're some way off most teams

.

November 11, 2008

One for the road

Posted on 11/11/2008 in England in India 2008-09

The taxis in Mumbai are part of the city's heritage, and in a quirk of Indian contradiction, are all the same, yet each different in its own way. And it is this distinctness which shows that individualism and creativity thrives in a city where it would be so easy to blend in and just become a population statistic. Alison Mitchell in her blog on bbc.co.uk drives home the point.

Drivers take great pride in their yellow roofed vehicle, and every single car has a stamp of individualism about it, whether it be the red hub caps, the decorative mud guards over the rear wheels, the swirling pink letters painted onto the side, the fully carpeted interior or the colourful stickers adorning the bonnet.

November 9, 2008

What comforts await KP in India?

Posted on 11/09/2008 in England in India 2008-09

After their Stanford debacle, England face some serious challenges during their tour of India, writes Vic Marks in the Observer. They are up against a strong Indian batting line-up that has been particularly harsh on overseas spinners, and the captain-coach relationship between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores is still far from ideal.

Since his appointment Pietersen has not shied away from being the main man. So how influential is Moores now? He did not appear to be proactive in Antigua, merely recognising afterwards that there were lessons to be learnt. How well does he dovetail with his captain? There is no evidence yet that he is capable of building a truly fertile relationship in the way that Duncan Fletcher did with Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan. That captain/coach relationship is crucial. Pietersen cannot do everything.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James says England still have much to prove in one-day cricket, especially away from home and they must be wary of more big-money issues in India.

Kevin Pietersen's single-handed renaissance of England's one-day cricket at the end of last summer is already a distant memory. Now a chap called Distraction appears in England's line-up. He is a man of money. And he will be in India.

The Indian Premier League was at the core of the ill-conceived Stanford decision, despite what the ECB will have you believe, and, although chief executive David Collier is off to India to negotiate with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, it is the reason why the players have signed only tour contracts and not yet committed to their full central contracts.

November 6, 2008

Get your moaning in order, England

Posted on 11/06/2008 in English cricket

Alan Tyers casts his cynical, satirical eye over Peter Moores' would-be diary, reflecting on the Stanford Super Series at The Wisden Cricketer's blog:

As I said, the most important thing about Stanford was not the money but actually getting the players tuned up for India. One of the key skills about an England tour to the sub-continent is having your moaning in really tip-top order, so that when you arrive, you’re ready to hit the ground complaining.

“Bang… The hotel’s not up to scratch… bang… That bloke’s looking at my missus… bang… This foreign muck don’t half play havoc with my guts…”

At the same blog, Miles Jupp questions the excuses England gave for their performance in the Stanford money match:

Peter Moores said it was all about attitude, and that our thinking had all been wrong. He even implied there might have been too much thinking (which sounds dangerously like bollocks). It is hard to imagine anybody being able to use that excuse convincingly anywhere. “Your honour, although my client’s actions may appear thoughtless, the truth is in fact quite the opposite. At the very moment he took the staff of that depot hostage he was, if anything, thinking too much…”

The idea that England allowed themselves to think too much about the nature of the game and the contradictions it threw up seems far-fetched. Moores made it sound as if each and every member of the team went out to bat and immediately suffered an existential crisis. As if someone as happy-go-lucky as Paul Collingwood would suddenly raise an arm during the bowler’s delivery stride and howl plaintively “Oh never mind the cricket - what are any of us actually put on this world for?”

November 5, 2008

Potential riches await England in India

Posted on 11/05/2008 in England in India 2008-09

Derek Pringle, writing in the Telegraph, believes England's cricketers have a tremendous opportunity to make amends for their Stanford debacle during their upcoming tour of India, including a chance to impress IPL's fixers and agents ahead of the tournament's auction in January.

The biggest (incentive) involves India's cricket board, the BCCI, the most powerful and wealthy in the game and intent on total world domination. Until now, they have never really had a team to match that, though the present one, captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni following Anil Kumble's retirement, are getting close. What a coup for England, and by extension the England and Wales Cricket Board, were they to thwart those ambitions by beating them in front of their adoring fans, a result that would surely neutralise any sour taste left by the Stanford match.
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The chance to present one's credentials ahead of the Indian Premier League's auction in January will be overwhelming for Pietersen and Co. Wanting to impress the IPL's fixers and agents should suit England's immediate aims as well, though other motivations exist.

October 3, 2008

Pace can rattle India's batting order

Posted on 10/03/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Geoffrey Boycott wants England's bowlers to get the ball into Virender Sehwag's ribs © AFP

The pace of Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison will be England’s biggest weapon, because the senior batsmen should all be vulnerable early on to quality fast bowling, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Telegraph.

Kevin Pietersen must tell his quick bowlers to go after Virender Sehwag, who so often gets India off to a flier. Sehwag scores fast and lifts the whole spirit of the team when he is firing. England have to get up his nose. Don’t try to bounce him out, because Indian pitches give batsmen more time to play the hook shot, but get the ball into his ribs. Get him tucked up and in a tangle. The key is to deny him the room to play shots.

September 30, 2008

Vaughan still has qualities to do a job for England

Posted on 09/30/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Duncan Fletcher: "It's up to Vaughan how long he decides to rest now. You don't really need more than a month to six weeks' break as long as you're training during that time" © Getty Images

It's a big blow for England that Michael Vaughan doesn't feel in the right frame of mind to tour India. People will wonder what I mean when they look at the difficult season he's had but I believe they will be in for a nasty shock if they really think he'll be easy to replace out there, writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian.

Successful batting in India requires skill, character and patience - the three qualities Vaughan demonstrated so superbly when he made a match-saving hundred on a turning pitch against Muttiah Muralitharan at his peak in Kandy a few years ago. Who else of the current side can play an innings like that in the heat and humidity they're likely to encounter in Ahmedabad and Mumbai? It's a bit of a worry.

Reports of Michael Vaughan's cricketing death, however, may be exaggerated. If anybody can return from this humiliation it is Vaughan. He spent 18 months stubbornly overcoming a knee injury which came within the width of a cartilage of terminating his career, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

I don't have any problems with England's squad, but I do like to see consistency of selection, writes Nasser Hussain in his Sky Sports column.

Peter Moores has known Prior and Ambrose for a long time now since their Sussex days and it's just time to work out which one is the better one - and stick with him. For me I would have gone with Prior and I would have gone with James Foster - if they don't believe Ambrose is the right choice - and I am not one just to stick with Ambrose just because he played this summer. I think Foster and Prior are the best two but the selectors have seen it differently. All I would call for is some consistency.

Dullness and consistency of thought are good attributes for selectors since stability is a key foundation stone of any successful team, writes Michael Atherton in the Times. But with the omission of James Foster comes the troubling feeling that the selectors have failed to recognise performances that, over the past couple of years, have rarely fallen below outstanding.

September 29, 2008

The Rashid question

Posted on 09/29/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Is Adil Rashid ready for an England call-up? Or is he too young? © Getty Images

Yorkshire allrounder Adil Rashid's bright future should not be jeopardised in order to give him unnecessary experience in India, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

Any thoughts of including the young Yorkshire allrounder Adil Rashid to give him experience should have been shelved. A single warm-up match in Baroda, in which presumably the projected Test XI will play, is all the cricket outside the Tests in Ahmedabad and Mumbai so there would be scant opportunity aside from assimilating a little dressing-room atmosphere, for which there will be time aplenty in the future. He is barely out of his teens and with astute handling may provide the fulcrum of England's spin attack for a decade in the future. He must not be rushed. For now his progress has flattened off and his development will be served better on the Lions tour.

In the Independent, Angus Fraser, however, is of the opinion that Rashid deserves a place in the squad to India.

Rashid is certain to be named in England's winter performance squad but the selectors could do worse than pick him for the full squad. Sooner or later they need to find out whether or not he is good enough and history suggests that a legspinner is more likely to trouble India's star-studded batting line-up than an offspinner.

The manner of Michael Vaughan's exclusion is strange - after all, cricketers do not often sit down with selectors to discuss the merits or otherwise of their selection as Vaughan appears to have done - but the decision [to leave him out of the squad] is the right one, writes Michael Atherton in the Times.

September 28, 2008

Picking England's team for the India Tests

Posted on 09/28/2008 in England in India 2008-09

	Graeme Swann: In line for a Test debut? © Getty Images

With Michael Vaughan out of the India tour, Vic Marks writes in the Observer that the England selectors' task of picking the fifteen is more straightforward. He thinks Matt Prior will be the first-choice wicketkeeper and Graeme Swann the second spinner.

The trickiest decision will be which of the young(ish) batsmen to take. Owais Shah played his best Test innings in Mumbai three years ago. Ravi Bopara has the class for international cricket and, making a late run, is Samit Patel. Soon we may be able to celebrate five cricketers of Asian origin in the same England team.

And Scyld Berry writing in the Sunday Telegraph says that with only one warm-up match before the Tests, the selection will be weighted towards players who are in India for the one-dayers. He wants James Foster and Matt Prior to be the two wicketkeepers making the trip.