wattWhen England depart for India, I think Jack Leach will be their most important bowler. After two games – he only played the first Test – he was ruled out of the series and I’m not sure how much of an impact that will have. That’s down to the performance of England’s young spinners, Jasprit Bumrah’s reverse swing and the realization that seam bowling may be more important than anyone expected.
With his experience, I think Leach is the only bowler in England who can control his bowling in the heat of battle, in times of pressure, so he seems confident about their chances of taking 20 wickets Crucial. In home conditions, England used fast medium pace bowlers to give them some control, but in India it was spin and they often got into trouble because they didn’t have bowlers who were accurate enough. But in the first two Tests, Ben Stokes has done well in handling the young spinners, manipulating the bowling attack and setting the field. Leach’s absence has a very different feel now.
In order to be successful in Test cricket you have to believe that you deserve to play and that your game is good enough. There is no room for doubt. Sometimes young players are very naive and just go out and have no expectations of themselves, but they can also overthink things and be a little intimidated.
Mentality is an important characteristic England look for when assessing players – it’s not just their playing attributes. England have managed their young players brilliantly over the past few years, with Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed already coming into the squad, performing well and their belief is strong.
I was surprised at how important the reverse swing was to this series. It reminds me of the summer of 1992, when Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram were performing so well for England. As a middle-order batsman, you often come in with the ball losing its luster, which is usually a tough job for the seamer, but in that series, after 40 overs, you knew The ball will suddenly start swinging rapidly in the opposite direction and you’ll be in trouble.
It was difficult to find the right angle to counter the inswing: I remember working with Joe Root on how to counter Bumrah, and the challenge was knowing where his off-stump was. Because of the wider launch angle, you may be tempted to hit those shots that you should leave off, but with that in mind, you can also leave off those balls that you shouldn’t. A guy like Zach Crawley who bats outside off might look at the inswinger as a ball he can score, but the challenge he faces is getting his bat through the ball to get it into the boundary and there’s room for error Very small.
Speed is the key here: Ollie Robinson, say, might also be able to swing the ball, but he gives the batter more time to adjust. Nonetheless, the Bumrah effect, Jimmy Anderson’s performance in the second Test and the success of young spinners means England will remain optimistic.
They have been in Abu Dhabi since the end of the second Test and will certainly be well rested. Decades ago, they would have stayed in India and squeezed in a few first-class games, but it seems wise to avoid a situation like the one at the end of the India tour in 1992-93, when they played 16 matches and Phil Ta “I’ve escaped the elephant, I’ve escaped poverty, and it’s time to go home,” Funnell said.
It’s a different game now, but I wonder if England’s young spinners could have made more progress playing in India rather than taking it easy in the UAE. This had the added benefit of avoiding visa issues, which were bound to distract Reyhan. On the other hand, senior players like Stokes, Root and Jonny Bairstow will surely welcome the break as they have enough experience to know what they are doing and how they need to prepare.
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I often enjoy those first-class tours and feel it’s a good opportunity to understand an unfamiliar situation, but there’s no perfect answer: Bairstow, a 34-year-old batsman with 97 Tests and 212 first-class games under his belt , a 20-year-old spinner with one Test match and seven first-class matches under his belt, is hoping for a completely different training to Bashir. For better or worse, England chose to decompress on Abu Dhabi’s beaches, golf courses and luxury hotels.
All in all, I’m not sure either side has the advantage after a long break. England’s attitude seems to be that they are the underdogs ready to go out and try. As long as they stay true to themselves, no matter what happens, it seems like a great way to reduce stress. In their view, they had everything to lose given India’s excellent home record and demanding fans.
They have lost Virat Kohli, who has now been out of the entire series. Although they proved in the second Test that they could win without him, it was a huge blow: Kohli is one of the greatest players of his generation, but more importantly, he pushed him The team moves forward and never settles for second best. He is very good at communicating with the crowd, getting them excited and keeping them going, and if things are going well for an opponent player, he is not afraid to engage in verbal distractions to distract him.
He is a giant in modern football, one to watch at the box office, and any team would be weaker without him.
