England in India

5 test matches in a 6 week period is just ridiculous. 

Going to need a bigger squad, to cope with injuries and exhaustion! This isn't good for cricket - someone, somewhere has become fixated on making money, at the expense of cricket, not for its benefit. 

Three days in advance of the First Test, GD has already written his story:


England in India 2016-17 November 6, 2016
England land in Rajkot, weary and unprepared
www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-england-2016-17/content/story/1064993.html

In the space of a few words we seem to have gone from a one-all encounter with a seriously good side of spinners to a nightmarish repetition of the tour of 1993, complete with bewailings that a senior player has not been selected (KP, natch) , that " it is a shame that Monty Panesar is nowhere near selection these days" (and you have a little part to play in that decline, Mr Dobell), and even the absence of James Taylor is blamed, though on this occasion he is magnanimous enough to say "There is no-one to blame for his illness". Sufferers from cardiac illnesses the world over must mop their brows with relief that they have been let off the hook by the magisterial Dobell.

The real meaning of the article becomes clear later on, after maundering on a bit about the form and potentiality of Jos Buttler we get to the meat of it: "There can be little serious doubt that the ECB hierarchy is prepared to dilute the quality of the county championship in order to establish a new-look domestic T20 competition. The best players will rarely, if ever, play red ball county cricket in the late-summer weeks when spin bowling would normally be at its most prevalent in England and, as a consequence, their ability to bowl it or play it in such conditions will be compromised. The ECB's vision of the future - with the value and volume of Tests diminishing fast - may be accurate. Or they may be accomplices in the act. "

This isn't a preview of the chances for England starting a difficult Test series, it is a hatchet job on the ECB working from false premises to a predictably hysterical conclusion. The ECB have ruined county cricket as we know it and now they're engaged on destroying Test cricket. Its a wonder that some wily Orientals aren't included in the plot, possibly with a few more dubious foreign-looking johnnies with dodgy names.

Still, for the rest of us there is an interesting Test series to look forward to, with some excellent Indian spinners, some vulnerabilities in the batting, and an England team that is fighting to find a new shape, but already has significant strengths and successes to its name. I'd rather have that than George Dobell's last days of pomposity. For those who would like to read an intersting speculation on the factors that may change Test cricket I'd thoroughly recommend reading Tim Wigmore's overview in The Cricket Monthly on cricinfo www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1061588/tests-in-2020

Confirmed that Haseeb Hameed will open with Cook tomorrow, Duckett moving to 4, and no place for Ballance. That's one issue out of the way, now for the bowling,

Nice 50 from Root. Not dominant but extremely competent. This looks like a gripping contest immediately, although the spin is not so vivid as the Bangladeshis. I wonder if we will miss not having the extra seamer?

I think it's about time that fielders hung on to the ball a tad longer before throwing it away in celebration. It would kill any doubts as to whether the catch has actually been completed.