Sri Lanka steadfastly resisted the temptation to do what India did, which is to play below par against, at least on paper, a much weaker opponent. Showing no signs of shakiness whatsoever they blanked out Bangladesh in their match at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. The match was, for all practical purposes, sewn up when Sri Lanka scored 318 after being put in to bat, but even the second half, interrupted by rain as it was, gave Bangladesh little hope as they caved in to a 198-run loss.Habibul Bashar’s decision to put Sri Lanka in was not the most straightforward one, and it’s now hard to see why he chose that way. Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya seemed dead set on putting a big score on the board from very early on, when the ball was doing a bit in the air and off the pitch, especially for Syed Rasel.Tharanga punches well through the off side, and is equally comfortable opening the face of the bat and slicing the ball over the infield, and he was off the blocks early. Jayasuriya, of course, has every shot in the book, and on the day he was toying with the bowling. He focussed on picking off the ones and twos, and this encouraged the bowlers to attack. When they did, Jayasuriya countered beautifully, pulling fiercely, cutting hard, and thumping back down the ground for boundaries.Before Bangladesh were quite sure how to adjust tactics and control the flow of runs, Sri Lanka were off to a bright start, reaching 50 off 54 balls. There were a couple of close calls for run outs, but Bangladesh’s failure to hit the stumps direct cost them dear. It was not until the 15th over that they broke the opening stand, when Tharanga fell. Mohammad Rafique, coming into the attack first-change, dropped one a touch short and wide outside the off, and Tharanga could not keep the cut shot down. Aftab Ahmed juggled the catch but held onto it at point and Tharanga was gone for 26, with Sri Lanka on 98.Jayasuriya traipsed on merrily, interrupted first by the rain, and later by an injury, but never by the bowlers. When he turned quickly for a run, stopping awkwardly, Jayasuriya strained his left knee, and walked off the field on 83. That was a temporary blip in the radar for Sri Lanka, but Mahela Jayawardene ensured that the scoring rate did not dip. He began to take a few chances, and went after the spinners, clouting sixes straight back over the bowlers’ heads.But Jayawardene’s impetuosity would cost him. On 46 he walked down the pitch and chipped a catch to long-off, losing his wicket in a soft dismissal. Sangakkara relied less on touch than Jayawardene, striking some beefy blows across the line, but he too would not go on to make a big one, falling softly, lofting to long-on when on 56.In the meantime, Jayasuriya had recovered sufficiently to come back on the field, and he quickly raced to his half-century. A pick-up shot off the pads over square-leg for six got the blood flowing. Abdul Razzak was then launched over long-on to bring up the century, and was followed immediately by a six over long-off. But, off the next ball Jayasuriya played one big shot too many, attempting a reverse sweep and only managing to bob the ball up to fine-leg. Jayasuriya made 109.Chamara Silva capped the Sri Lankan innings with a typically audacious knock, hitting an unbeaten 52 off 48 balls. He went after the bowling with total freedom, and his knock ensured a score of over 300 for Sri Lanka.
When Bangladesh replied, it was bad news from the word go. Shahriar Nafees was the first to go, trapped in front of the stumps by Vaas for just 1. Tamim Iqbal, the young star of Bangladesh’s win against India, who turned 18 just yesterday, fished at one just outside the off when Malinga banged one in a touch short. Kumar Sangakkara snapped up the catch.Aftab, one of the players Bangladesh look towards to bat out long periods of time, could not do the job on the day. With only 20 on the board three wickets were down, and the road ahead looked bleak. Farveez Maharoof, coming into the attack first-change, prised out the fourth wicket, that of the doughty Mushfiqur Rahim. Maharoof dropped one short and Mushfiqur chopped hard and ball flew straight to Tillakaratne Dilshan at point. The smart offering was pouched and Bangladesh were 26 for 4 from 11.1 overs.Then, for a time, Bangladesh resisted, but Muttiah Muralitharan is the sort of bowler who you can’t resist for too long. Saqibul Hasan had batted all of 20 balls for 4 runs, but he failed to pick a doosra and had his leg stump pegged back. Soon after there was more trouble as a mix-up in the running left Habibul Bashar well short of his crease. From there to oblivion it was a short, if not swift, road. Bangladesh were all out for 112, and Sri Lanka had swept to victory.
Duncan Fletcher has praised the inexperienced England team for their performance in the first Test at Nagpur. The side included three debutants – Alastair Cook, Ian Blackwell and Monty Panesar – while none of the players were over 30 and the team was led by Andrew Flintoff, captaining England for the first time.”What is so pleasing is that these guys look as though they have really got a desire not just to play for England but to do well for England.” Fletcher confirmed that Flintoff will continue to lead England for the remainder of the tour, but he still has concerns over the workload for the allrounder.Flintoff bowled 46 overs at Nagpur and there are just three days between the Tests. However, Fletcher has talked to Marcus Trescothick in recent days and says there is ‘a very good chance’ that he won’t return for either the remaining Tests or the one-day series, while Michael Vaughan is unlikely to return for the one-day matches.”At the moment it is a lot to do,” said Fletcher. “Just as an all-rounder he had a lot to do. Adding the captaincy could be – you never know with the individual – what he needs to step his game up to another level. We will only find that out later on.”Fred, at this stage, will captain for the rest of the tour. He captained well. Considering the circumstances it wasn’t an easy game, being thrown in he had to grab hold of the reins straight away, which he did. You can see immediately he is a guy who wants to lead from the front.”England’s reshaped side performed above all expected with two of the debutants – Cook and Panesar – having outstanding games, while Paul Collingwood, who probably wouldn’t have played if Vaughan and Trescothick had been available, struck his maiden Test century.”I was very impressed with what I saw of Cook in Pakistan and that is why we got him back this time,” said Fletcher. “As for Monty, I was surprised with the control he had right from the word go, he didn’t seem to show any nerves. He has a good classical action and that is what we have been trying to get out of our bowlers instead of these mechanical actions which leave you fighting to get consistency.”Collingwood’s performance did not surprise Fletcher, who has always been a fan of England’s established stand-by batsman. Now he is demanding a position in his own right.”He is one guy who has shown some character. He has been given very few chances and yet he has grabbed them on nearly every occasion. He played two great innings in Pakistan and to come out and get that knock shows why I have wanted him around the side for some time. He has got that buzz about him which is very important. He has done a hell of a job and we have to take note of that.”The one negative of England’s performance was two dropped catches by Geraint Jones, the first of which would have broken the 128-run stand between Mohammad Kaif and Anil Kumble in the first innings, while the second came against Rahul Dravid on the final morning.But Fletcher, a big fan of Jones, has again fully supported him. “As I have said on numerous occasions, I have seen other guys put down chances. From our point of view he kept magnificently in Pakistan, he came here and missed two difficult chances. If he was putting down nine-to-five jobs then you probably would be worried but they were two difficult chances.”In a pleasing change of events for Fletcher, the England squad is all fit in the build-up to the second Test, which starts at Mohali on Thursday. Kevin Pietersen has been cleared of any serious problem after an x-ray on his elbow, which caused concern after a dive in the field on Sunday.
The Pakistan cricket team received a minor shock when they reached Ranchi as an unidentified person hurled a stone at their team bus. According to Saleem Altaf, the team manager, the stone narrowly missed Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was sitting near the window, as the bus came out of the airport complex in Ranchi.”The stone thrown by a miscreant shattered the window and the mood of the team,” Altaf was reported as saying in . “We were scheduled to have a nets session on Thursday in preparation for the third one-day international in Jamshedpur on Saturday. But after this incident Inzamam suggested we cancel the nets and allow the boys to take complete rest for the day.”The players were forced to alight at Ranchi as there was no airport at Jamshedpur, the venue for the third game of the series. The Pakistan players were already unhappy with the travel arrangements made for the one-day series with matches scheduled all over the country. However, the Indian board had defended their itenerary saying that smaller venues had to host the one-dayers according to the rotation policy.
A show-cause notice has been issued to Abhijit Kale, the cricketer accused of attempting to bribe two national selectors for a place in the Indian team.According to the , the three-member BCCI Disciplinary Committee went through the report submitted by DV Subba Rao, the inquiry commissioner, and “found a prima facie case against Kale and framed charges against him”, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters. He said that the committee decided to “issue a show-cause notice to the cricketer”.To a query, a member of the BCCI’s legal team said Kale would be given 15 days’ time to submit his reply. Commenting on the court case filed by Kale, he said it was a different issue as the case had been filed challenging his suspension, whereas the Disciplinary Committee was considering the overall charge against him.Kale was accused by Kiran More and Pranab Roy of offering them a bribe of Rs 10 lakh [approximately $22,000] each, and then suspended from the game by the BCCI. The board then appointed Rao, chairman of the Bar Council of India, as inquiry commissioner to look into the matter.The three-member Disciplinary Committee was constituted after Rao submitted his report on December 5 following a day-long hearing at Visakhapatnam on November 29, during which he heard Kale, More, Roy and Sanjay Jagdale, a national selector from Central Zone.
Opener Sohail Idrees struck a fine 154 Tuesday as Lahore Blues put ona big second innings total against Islamabad on the third day of theirQuaid-e-Azam Trophy match at the KRL Stadium.Lahore finished the day on 382 for eight and are likely to bat on forsometime Wednesday morning in order to give Islamabad a difficulttarget to chase on the last day. The home side has a first inningslead of 64.The Islamabad bowlers toiled on a pitch helping the batsmen andLahore’s Sohail made full use of the conditions to crack 15 fours anda six in his 239-ball innings. Along with his skipper Bazid Khan whoscored 88, he was involved in a 189-run partnership for the thirdwicket.Sohail’s marathon knock was finally ended by pacer Rauf Akbar, whofinished the day with five for 63. He also put the brakes on Bazidwhose 88 from 150 deliveries had nine fours. Ali Naqvi had three for98.Meanwhile controversy gripped the match when play ended as the Lahoremanager Hafeez-ur-Rehman complained to the referee Rizwan Khateeb thatone of the groundsmen had dug up a bit of the pitch as covers werebeing brought on. But in actual fact it was Lahore’s Humayun Farhatwho while batting did the damage in the danger area which led to hebeing ordered by umpire Sadiq Mohammad to have his spikes changed.The move of the Lahore manager of wrongly blaming the groundsman tocover up a wrong of one of his players upset the Islamabad officials.They felt that the damage done was intentional and calls for a highlevel probe. They even threatened not to bat Wednesday.
Cricket in Hong Kong enjoyed perhaps its greatest moment to date,qualifying for both next year’s Asia Cup and Friday’s final of the ACCTrophy with a convincing 179 run win over Nepal in Sharjah on Tuesday.Hong Kong recovered from a disastrous early start to score 268-3 fromits 50 overs, before removing Nepal for 89 in just 25 overs in thesemi-final at the Sharjah Stadium.”I am very pleased,” Hong Kong coach, Adam Hollioake said. “That’swhat we came here to do – firstly qualify for the Asia Cup and makethe final of the ACC Trophy. We did the simple things well.”Captain, Stewart Brew, was equally happy.”It is the best Hong Kong team we have put out and I am really proudof the way the boys have played.”Hong Kong was in early trouble, at 11-2 in the sixth over after thedismissals of openers, Saleem Malik (3) and Charaparambil Manoj (4).However, Hollioake said he was unconcerned.”It was very early in the game and we tried to attack in first 15overs and this time it didn’t come off.”After taking 30.3 overs to pass 100, the Hong Kong batsmen, led byRahul Sharma, who remained unbeaten on 145 not out, thrashed 168 inthe last 20 overs to set Nepal a daunting target.Tight bowling, backed up by what was at that stage, sound groundfielding, put pressure on the Hong Kong openers, who were looking toattack in the first 15 overs.Malik, who had uncharacteristically scored three from 12 balls, wasstranded after hesitating when looking for a single and was run out byKiran Agrawal after trying to return to his crease.The situation worsened when Manoj advanced down the wicket to MehboobAlam and got an inside edge on to his leg stump.Nepal to that point, were bowling a good line, and fielding tightly.Hong Kong’s most experienced two batsmen, captain, Stewart Brew, andSharma, were now at the crease and they proceeded to patiently repairthe innings with singles and the occasional boundary.From about the 10th over, Nepal’s intensity seemed to drop with theoccasional misfield and wide creeping into their play.Without taking risks, Brew and Sharma accelerated the run-rate,doubling the score from 15-2 in the eighth over to 32-2 in theeleventh.Brew played the dominant role as the partnership developed, pickingoff singles with shots to fielders and waiting for the loose ball tohit.Sharma played more of a support role to Brew initially, scoring 19 toBrew’s 29 when the 50 partnership came up.Opening bowler, Raju Khadka, had bowled good line in his first spellconceding 15 from six overs, while the quickish Alam took 6-1-18-1,including Manoj’s wicket.The tempo of the innings began to increase with the introduction ofleft arm spinner, Pawan Luniya, into the attack. Luniya bowled a goodline and length but had little on his deliveries to test the Hong Kongbatsmen, and gradually the run-rate increased.Also, Nepal’s ground fielding, which earlier had been near faultless,began to feature the odd misfield.Brew went on to score his 50, including two sixes and fours fours from85 balls.On 63, the Queensland-born veteran played a shot totally in contrastto the rest of his innings when he advanced to smash Sharraf out ofthe ground, and was stumped by Ganesh Thaku, with the score at 135-3.The entire nature of the Hong Kong innings was changed when Alamdropped a sitter at the long off boundary. Rather than Hong Konghaving two new batsmen starting their innings’, the chance was thesignal for Sharma to launch an assault on the innocuous Nepaleseattack.Sharma had been joined by Mark Davies, and together the pair reached50 from 41 balls. Sharma, a former Ranji Trophy player, reached hiscentury soon after, from 124 balls, with three sixes and five fours.He had not scored a six before the chance from Alam, but would scoresix sixes in the last 10 overs in addition to 11 boundaries. Hong Kongbelted 114 runs in that time. Sharma scored 88 runs after the droppedcatch.Khadka, who had earlier been economical, had 40 runs from his lastfour overs, while Das, who was perhaps Nepal’s best bowler, had 38taken from his last two, including 25 from his last.Alex Davies (36 n.o) batted well to support Sharma during their 133run partnership.According to Nepal captain, Pewan Agrawal, the top order batsmendidn’t play to the team plan. “At the lunch break we said that weshould play positively but bat out the 50 overs. The players threwtheir wickets away,” Agrawal said. “I think they got carried away bythe occasion.”Paresh Lohani (0) edged a ball from Brew, bowling medium-pace, andapart from an over from paceman, Mohammad Zubair, who again hadtrouble controlling his inswingers, Nepal lost regular wickets.Zubair’s first over, the second of the innings, stretched to 16deliveries, due to eight wides and two no-balls.It was the biggest ‘partnership’ of the Nepalese innings, as itsbatsmen chased quick runs and threw away their wickets.Extras (26) was Nepal’s highest scorer, with middle-order batsman andall-rounder, Raju Khadka (18) hitting two fours in his 15 ballinnings.
Celtic are now reportedly making enquiries in pursuit of a new manager just one day one from Peter Lawwell’s decision to leave the club and yet another defeat for Wilfried Nancy.
Lawall admits "abuse and threats" became "intolerable" at Celtic
It has been a disastrous season for Celtic. The Bhoys looked to have steadied the ship when they hired veteran manager Martin O’Neill on an interim basis and it looked as though their title defence was far from over. The decision was then made to hire Nancy ahead of a crucial period, however, and those in Glasgow have been made to regret their choice ever since.
Following defeat against Dundee United, Nancy became the first Celtic manager since 1978 to lose four games in a row at the club. In short, it has been a nightmare start for the new manager and fans are already beginning to turn.
Nancy’s start to life at Celtic Park hardly helped club chairman Lawwell, who announced that he will be stepping down from his role in Scotland at the end of the December amid “intolerable” abuse.
The 66-year-old told the club website: “I believe I have shown my ability to meet and overcome challenges on many fronts, but abuse and threats from some sources have increased and are now intolerable. They have dismayed and alarmed my family.
Celtic still plotting move for Serie A target who Lawwell tried to sign in summer
It’s been a tough start for Nancy.
ByTom Cunningham
“At this stage in my life, I don’t need this. I cannot accept this and so I leave the club I have loved all my life. The motivations and aims of these detractors can be investigated by others. I prefer to look back on my career at Celtic with deep gratitude and satisfaction.”
It seems as though there’s every chance that Nancy follows the chairman out the door, too. According to TeamTalk, Celtic are now making enquiries in pursuit of a new manager.
Celtic making enquiries as pressure grows on Nancy
Every game should be seen as a must-win as far as Nancy is concerned in the coming weeks. Up next, the Hoops play host to Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership and defeat may make the new manager’s position untenable after just five games in charge.
Parkhead chiefs are already concerned and surprised by Nancy’s disastrous start, so much so that they’ve quietly commenced their search for a contingency plan and are already ‘sounding out’ options after yet another disastrous day on Wednesday.
The Frenchman, however, has remained optimistic and told reporters after defeat against Dundee United: “It’s new for me to have four losses in a row. This is also new for the players.
Subscribe to the newsletter: Celtic managerial insight Get the newsletter for in-depth coverage of Celtic’s managerial turmoil and clear, expert analysis on what it means for the club and the wider football landscape. Subscribe to receive focused context and perspective on these developments. Subscribe to the newsletter: Celtic managerial insight Get the newsletter for in-depth coverage of Celtic’s managerial turmoil and clear, expert analysis on what it means for the club and the wider football landscape. Subscribe to receive focused context and perspective on these developments.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“I can understand they are upset. But the only thing that I can tell them is that I think we had a good performance. We are missing the goals that could have been good for us and we are still working on that to win the next game.
“We don’t have a lot of time to work but when we work, we do it well. And again, that was a good performance. But the result was not there.”
He was as bad as Kenny: Nancy must drop Celtic flop who lost 100% duels
Day 2 ScorecardA four-wicket haul by Tushar Saha, the left-arm spinner, helped East Zone bundle out South Zone for 204, in the process gaining a first-innings lead of 109 on the second day at the Wankhede Stadium.East, resuming on their overnight score of 265, added 48 before the seamer NC Aiyappa wrapped up the innings with his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Halhadar Das, who led East’s revival on the first day, fell seven short of his ton, The last-wicket pair of Shib Shankar Paul and Ranadeb Bose took the score from 290 to 313 before Aiyappa accounted for Paul to finish with figures of 5 for 84.South failed to get the partnerships going early on, the maximum being 59 for the fourth wicket between M Vijay and Arjun Yadav. Vijay, who hit eight fours in his 46, was Saha’s first victim, caught by Debasis Mohanty. Yadav fell for 41 to the offspin of Palash Das and at that stage South were struggling at 151 for 5. The lower order failed to build on their starts as Saha pegged away at the wickets and wrapped up the innings for 204, finishing with 4 for 47 in just under 23 overs. East extended their lead to 114 after the openers played out one over before stumps. ScorecardPankaj Singh grabbed four wickets as Central Zone shot out England Lions for 155 and gained a healthy 115-run first-innings lead. Central, though, lost two wickets in the seven overs they had to face before stumps on the second day in Vadodara.In the morning session, Central, resuming from 238 for 7, could only add 32 runs to their first-innings effort before being bowled out. Alan Richardson, the right-arm medium pacer, took two more wickets to be the Lions’ most successful bowler with four wickets.The Lions’ batting effort got off to a poor start with Joe Denly, winner of the NBC Denis Compton award for four successive years at Kent, falling to Pankaj, who was part of the Indian squad that toured Australia recently, in the first over. Michael Yardy, the Lions’ captain, was Pankaj’s next victim, managing only 5. After some brief resistance, both Michael Carberry and Ed Joyce fell in quick succession to leave the Lions at 66 for 4.Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta ably assisted Pankaj as the Lions were unable to put together any partnerships of note, tumbling to 120 for 8. It was thanks to No. 7 Adil Rashid’s 40 that the visitors managed to post their modest score – their innings ending when Sanjib Sanyal struck twice in the same over. Pankaj finished with 4 for 43 while Gupta had returns of 3 for 32 in 23 overs.
Both England and New Zealand know all about being hit by injuries and key players from either side have been struck down in the build-up to their vital World Cup opener in St Lucia. James Anderson has broken a finger, Craig McMillan took a blow on the toe during training and Mark Gillespie has suffered an infection which has travelled to his shoulder.Gillespie was ruled out a couple of days ago, but McMillan has come through the Kiwis’ training session on Thursday and looks set to take his place in the middle order. Anderson, too, took part in England’s session but there were some clear grimaces as he held catches. The importance of the match is highlighted by the England management’s decision to leave the final decision until shortly before the toss on Friday.England’s planning had been built around the return of Anderson, who missed the latter stages of the CB Series with a back problem, with him earmarked to take the new ball and exploit any swing with the early starts. However, now the management have to decide whether to risk him causing further damage to his finger, or being a liability in the field, especially when Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett showed strong form at the end of the Australian tour.”I don’t think a decision has been made on Jimmy yet,” Andrew Flintoff told reporters in St Lucia. “He’s broken his finger and I’m not quite sure where he’s at. It depends how well he can protect it and it depends how well he can do all the stuff in the nets and how he feels pain-wise – and how he rocks up in the morning.””He’s been dogged by injuries and been really unlucky,” added Flintoff. “He’s had his back and one thing and another and we saw signs in the winter that he was back to his best. He was swinging the ball at pace, he was taking the new ball and taking a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and coming through so, fingers crossed, he’ll be all right.”Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher, along with John Bracewell from the New Zealand camp, watched part of the Kenya-Canada game on Wednesday to see what hints they could collect as to how conditions would play. They will have seen the effect of Kenya’s spinners in strangling the scoring rate so the temptation will be for both teams to field two slow men.However, without anyone of express pace to watch it was difficult to judge the true nature of the surface. The two captains will be weary of being swayed too much by the performances of the two Associates. When England last played in St Lucia they twice failed to defend totals in excess of 280, but the opinion from commentators is that the current surface is not quite so batsman-friendly.Whatever the pitch, both sides have strong top orders; England bolstered by the return of Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen and New Zealand still holding memories of their massive run chases against Australia last month. New Zealand were hurt when England pipped them to the CB Series finals and Stephen Fleming said that this game has been on their minds for a while.”We are smarting from England knocking us out in Australia,” said Fleming, “and to get off to a good start in the tournament we have to win this game and win it well. If we don’t we can come out with the excuse ‘it’s not too bad’ but we are desperate to win and set the standard for the tournament.”Defeat for either side won’t be terminal – although they would then have to beat Kenya and Canada to progress – but the value of the two points taken through against the fellow qualifier is significant. The confidence in both camps is high but there is a feeling one defeat could see that unravelling. It may only be their first match of the tournament, but the long-term prospects of both teams depend heavily on the final outcome.England (probable) 1 Ed Joyce, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Jamie Dalrymple, 8 Paul Nixon (wk), 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty PanesarNew Zealand (probable) 1 Lou Vincent, 2 Stephen Fleming (capt), 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Peter Fulton, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Brendon McCullum (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 James Franklin, 11 Shane Bond
A fully-fit Simon Jones is taking tips from Dennis Lillee ahead of England’s tour of India beginning in February.Jones suffered an ankle injury after the final Ashes Test last summer and missed out on England’s tour of Pakistan. In India for a fortnight prior to the arrival of the England side on February 13, Jones will work with Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. “It’s nice to be bowling again really,” Jones told Reuters. “It’s a good chance to be working with Lillee. I’m picking his brains.”Having played in India in 2004 during a successful comeback from a career-threatening knee injury, Jones said he knew what to expect of the pitches in India. “Obviously the conditions are pretty coarse out here, the grounds are very dry,” he said. “I think the ball will reverse swing. It’s only a question of how quickly. In Old Trafford it reversed after 15 overs. I don’t quite think it will go that quickly here.”On his own form – he has 59 Test wickets at 28.23 and was a star performer during the Ashes with 18 victims – Jones said it was a matter of getting back to full strength and putting to use an art he seems to have mastered – reverse swing. “I’ve been out here before with England A, and did okay. I got a couple of five-wicket hauls with reverse swing,” he said. “We are using a different ball this time. We’ll see what it is like.”England play three Tests and seven one-day internationals against India. Their tour kicks off with a three-day warm-up match at Mumbai from February 18.