How important is England for Cricket
England is THE place to play cricket. Game of cricket originated from here. The venues are all of historic significance. Lords is the Mecca of cricket. Oval was where the first cricket test was played in 1877, 130 years ago. The playing conditions are different from those in sub-continent. It is not that hot even during summer, temperatures are in low 20s. So, good conditions for players to concentrate on their game and not get distracted by heat, sweat, fatigue and cramps. England is a small and developed country, systems are friendly and efficient hence players don’t have to face the perils of travel and accommodation. Players have enough hang out players to the likings of anybody’s tastes. Grounds really live up to their reputations, outfield is green and uniform, pitches are hard, dressing room and stadium facilities are great. Crowd is decent, understand cricket test cricket in particular, and appreciate good performance be it from the home team or visiting team. You find about 50 former test stars watching with their families just like any other spectator. They are very successful in attracting top international players play in their domestic county matches. Achievements in England are well documented and recorded in History. All the grounds record 5 wicket hauls and centuries in museum boards. It then becomes ultimate pride for players` names to feature in the coveted list. Pitches facilitate seam movements for fast bowlers and ball comes on well to the bat for batsmen. As batsmen one got to have the right technique to cope up with seam movements. As bowler one needs to pitch the ball up without fear of getting hit and let the pitch do the rest.
Previous Tours
India has toured England 14 times for 45 matches since their maiden tour in 1935 till their last tour in 2002. Won 4 matches (each one of them memorable) and with it 2 series. Ajit Wadekar led team won it 1-0 in 1971 and Kapil Dev`s team won it 2-0in 1986. On the last tour Saurav Ganguly led his team to 1-1 draw, including the biggest of all overseas wins, innings and 46 runs in conditions favoring the home team at Leeds. The present generation Indian stars had their foundations in International cricket laid in England. Sachin Tendulkar scored his maiden century here in 1990 and became the youngest Test Centurion. Anil Kumble made his debut in the same series. Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid wore their first Indian cap in the same Test at Lords in 1996. What they have done then is well known. Irony is that Sunil Gavaskar averages only 41 in England. Kumble hasn’t got 5 wickets in an innings. Neither Sachin nor Sunil scored a century at Lords. Vengsarkar scored 3 of them in successive tests at Lords.
Key players
Coming to this tour, Sachin Tendulkar and Sreesanth hold the key to India success and Kevin Peitersen and Monty Panesar are that to England.
Sachin is looking in ominous touch, scored 2 fluent 90s in ODIs, but the best had been the 171 against English Lions while leading Indian side. It has by far the most belligerent innings in last 5 years. He now has scored 4 centuries in 4 first class games. One in Ranji final against Bengal, two against Bangladesh in Tests before the last one. It has given hope for many of his fans to watch the old Sachin in action. On personal front, this will be his last tour to England as a Test Player. He would want to make it his own by adding to his tally of 37 tons and scoring his 20,000th first class run. He is only 350 odd runs short of that mark, averaging just short of 60. The most I like about present Sachin is that scores loads of runs without looking like scoring them. He just helps the ball on its way playing more behind the wicket.
Sreesanth but not Kumble will be the key to Indian bowling in England. Not to underrate Kumble’s role but to highlight that he is taken for granted. Sreesanth doesn’t fear pitching the ball up, he cal bowl good out-swingers. He had played a major part in last 2 overseas successes at Jamica and Johannesburg. He is quite expressive, keeps the proceeding lively however heated the real battle is. It will be good to see his exchanges with another character Peitersen the KP.
KP is in the best of his form, dream international career so far, scoring 2500 runs in just 25 tests all against quality oppositions, 10 of them against Australia. His attaching style, walking down the pitch to bowlers can affect the rhythm of even the best of bowlers. He outscores all his team-members with whom he has long partnerships.
With Flintoff and Harminson out due to injuries, Monty Panesar will be the main threat to the celebrated strong Indian batting line-up. He is lion hearted, consistently attacking, hardly giving away loose deliveries, mixing up well with his turn and drift. Being a spinner he can bowl long spells, giving little breathing time to the batsmen. He started his test career just 18 months back bowling Sachin for his first wicket at Nagpur. Now he has come a long way to become the side’s strike bowler and world’s 6th best bowler. Traditionally England have used spinner as a defensive option to bowl overs when their main fast bowlers are tired. Sachin`s weakness against left spin in well exploited by Nicky Boje, Ashley Giles, Ray Price and Paul Harris.
Challenges
Indian challenges for this would be
1. Finishing off the tail – England already has a deep batting line-up up to Mather Prior at No.7. After taking their wickets either the bowlers get tired or complacent or both. Simple way to overcome that is to bowl to them as they were to any top order batsmen.
2. Lack of experience – Barring Zaheer Khan we don’t have bowlers with an experience of even 10 tests. Agarkar, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel have been left out for good.
3. Defensive 4 bowler strategy – After 3 fast bowlers finish their spells, bulk of the bowling needs to be done by Kumble and a part-time bowler. In Test Cricket wickets don’t come unless there is pressure applied from both ends for sustained period. If we sum-up Indian bowlers’ average wickets per match, they add up to only 14, assuming 1 run-out we can take only 15 wickets, while to win a Test match we need 20 wickets clearly suggesting that we are a bowler short.
4. Opening Combination – Jaffer hasn’t been in the best of form, has never looked comfortable against moving ball. His 4 hundreds have all come in good batting conditions. Karthik isn’t a regular opening batsman.
5. Aging middle order – This has been the strength as far as India is concerned. This will be their last tour of England and they should not get over-awed by the situation. Take it as just another tour, but it is easier said than done. They need to respect Monty however naturally talented they maybe in playing spin bowling.
England on the other hand has different challenges
1. They last played West Indies and won 3-0. That was early summer and conditions suited home team. It will be easy for the England to be confident and feel that everything is right with them. It has been a good warm-up no doubt but need to take things into right perspective.
2. Injuries to key fast bowlers. Harminson is in doubt for first test. Flintoff is ruled out for the series, he can at best hope for his return during 7 match one-day series. Flintoff’s loss will be significant as they don’t have an all-rounder for replacement. Last time he toured India in 2006 he was instrumental in England drawing the series with 14 wickets, 5 fifties with added responsibility to captain. Hoggard struggled to keep himself fit during West Indies Series.
3. Fast bowling which was has always been their strength is on a decline. Dependence on Panesar is increasing. Against India this may not be the right ploy.
4. Andrew Strauss has been struggling, scoring only one 50 in last 17 test innings beginning Ashes series. Vaughan who was run-machine last time around with 2 scores in 190s and 600 runs overall may not be as effective with the bat.
Predicted Result
I need to be very careful while writing this, because it can be compared to at the end of the series. Any major mismatch from the actual will reduce my reputation as a forecaster, if at all I have any ;-) Sorry to disappoint Indian fans but I predict a 2-0 win for England. It could have been 3-0 but one odd batting genius or rain could help in India drawing 1 match. Remember we are playing in during hotter summer, when the sun-shine will help Indian batting. It is not that Indians are weak compared to England. But difference is just in cashing in on an opportunity and not allowing opposition to get back into the game. It is not that I am an English supporter; I just want to make a realistic assessment. I hope I am proved wrong!
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