Caddick awaits 'home' tour call
England will decide this week whether to reinstate Andy Caddick, who refused to tour India because of safety fears, for the Test series against New Zealand in the new year. The probability is that Caddick, born in New Zealand, will return to the squad because of the need for an extra...
England will decide this week whether to reinstate Andy Caddick, who refused to tour India because of safety fears, for the Test series against New Zealand in the new year.
The probability is that Caddick, born in New Zealand, will return to the squad because of the need for an extra pace bowler, with the Gloucestershire off-spinner Martyn Ball likely to step down.
Although Nasser Hussain professed not to be concerned that "the old stagers" not in India might lose their place in the side to those who replaced them, the England and Wales Cricket Board made a commitment that those who chose not to tour would not suffer as a consequence. Robert Croft, who also withdrew, is unlikely on cricketing grounds alone to regain his place from Yorkshire's Richard Dawson.
Alec Stewart and Darren Gough, who withdrew before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, were informed at the time that they had made themselves ineligible for the whole winter schedule.
Graham Thorpe, who returned home because of marital problems, will be given additional time to decide on his availability for New Zealand, although he is unlikely to return for the one-day series in India next month. "There is some doubt. He might say he wants to get away and play some cricket," said the England coach Duncan Fletcher.
The ECB is also expected to confirm today that it has acceded to a request from Jagmohan Dalmiya, chairman of the Indian board, to play a sixth one-day international against India next month.
Fletcher is far from happy at the concession but it is a pragmatic gesture, with the aim of securing a promise from India to honour their commitment to a four-Test series in England next summer.
The media in India were in agreement that the drawn second Test was a "moral victory" for the tourists.
"England came out of this Test with more credit than India," wrote the former India batsman Ravi Shastri in his column in the Times of India yesterday.
"They had the better of the exchanges - in batting, bowling and fielding - and more importantly scored more points on the psychological front too."
Krishnamachari Srikkanth, another former Test player, wrote in the Hindu: "It was a moral victory for the visitors, who were written off by many before the Test. That the side, without key pacemen Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick and with top batsman Graham Thorpe pulling out before the second Test, actually managed to give India a scare was creditable in itself."
But commentators felt England should have tempted India with a more achievable last-day target. Srikkanth wrote: "There was little chance for India chasing over 350 runs on the final day."
The probability is that Caddick, born in New Zealand, will return to the squad because of the need for an extra pace bowler, with the Gloucestershire off-spinner Martyn Ball likely to step down.
Although Nasser Hussain professed not to be concerned that "the old stagers" not in India might lose their place in the side to those who replaced them, the England and Wales Cricket Board made a commitment that those who chose not to tour would not suffer as a consequence. Robert Croft, who also withdrew, is unlikely on cricketing grounds alone to regain his place from Yorkshire's Richard Dawson.
Alec Stewart and Darren Gough, who withdrew before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, were informed at the time that they had made themselves ineligible for the whole winter schedule.
Graham Thorpe, who returned home because of marital problems, will be given additional time to decide on his availability for New Zealand, although he is unlikely to return for the one-day series in India next month. "There is some doubt. He might say he wants to get away and play some cricket," said the England coach Duncan Fletcher.
The ECB is also expected to confirm today that it has acceded to a request from Jagmohan Dalmiya, chairman of the Indian board, to play a sixth one-day international against India next month.
Fletcher is far from happy at the concession but it is a pragmatic gesture, with the aim of securing a promise from India to honour their commitment to a four-Test series in England next summer.
The media in India were in agreement that the drawn second Test was a "moral victory" for the tourists.
"England came out of this Test with more credit than India," wrote the former India batsman Ravi Shastri in his column in the Times of India yesterday.
"They had the better of the exchanges - in batting, bowling and fielding - and more importantly scored more points on the psychological front too."
Krishnamachari Srikkanth, another former Test player, wrote in the Hindu: "It was a moral victory for the visitors, who were written off by many before the Test. That the side, without key pacemen Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick and with top batsman Graham Thorpe pulling out before the second Test, actually managed to give India a scare was creditable in itself."
But commentators felt England should have tempted India with a more achievable last-day target. Srikkanth wrote: "There was little chance for India chasing over 350 runs on the final day."
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