While the England team is doing its bit to prepare for the tough tour against the Indians starting with the first Test in Chennai, bad weather and travel plans are making life difficult
After a rain-hampered practice session, England coach Moores says players’ mental toughness will see them through
ABU DHABI: While the England team is doing its bit to prepare for the tough tour against the Indians starting with the first Test in Chennai, bad weather and travel plans are making life difficult for the touring party.
The squad was keen to get some much-needed practice under the balmy weather that Abu Dhabi offered along with its excellent stadium and other facilities at this time of the year. However, an unusually long spell of rain on Saturday morning ruined their plans.
An extensive second day’s session of six hours had to be rescheduled and three hours of practice were made possible later in the day. Thankfully, the ground staff led by the curator Mohan Singh, had got the pitches.
Incidentally, Mohan Singh hails from Mohali, which emerged as the second venue of the two-Test series, only to have a cloud of doubt hovering over it again.
With the situation becoming more fluid, the England coach Peter Moores admitted that it was a growing mental challenge from here on.
“The practice has been compromised quite a lot, we are practising in the wrong country but the lads are in good spirits,” Moores said. “It is more of a mental shift we need now.
We have been playing one-day cricket for a long time and we need to get ready and be disciplined for the longer form of the game.
“It would be easy to say we lacked preparations if we don’t play well. We cannot use the compromise to practice as an excuse for poor performance. The challenge is to see how we do well in different type of conditions. Each condition in cricket can be different from the other and we have to be ready.
“Mentally, everyone has to assume we are going. It’s about (getting) your skills ready to go as a batter or a bowler: it’s such a quick turnaround now, so the lads have got to get themselves (together) really quickly if they are going to be ready. Hopefully we can take our full-strength side there, compete, win the series and have a good Christmas.”
The coach also admitted that situation in Mohali is very unclear. “From our point of view there are three entities involved in determining the security aspects — the England Cricket Board, the Indian board and the PCA. Only if we get the same message from all sides, we will go ahead,” he said.
Moores added that Stuart Broad will fly directly into India allowing him more time with the local physiotherapists to treat his hamstring tear injury. He also clarified that Andrew Flintoff was fit and raring to go. “He wanted to go out and have a bowl even in the rains in the morning. His ankle seems fine. But should we have problems, Ravi (Bopara) gives us a good option of someone who can bat and bowl.” The coach also justified the initial reluctance by some of the players when it was reported that players of the likes of Flintoff, James Anderson and Stephen Harmison were not keen.
“Each player is different and is at a different stage in life. From 20 years to 30 years, the situation can be different for them family-wise and career-wise. So every one has to
take his own decisions and that is understandable,” he said.
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