The cricket….
It proves that the cricket itself is actually a very small part of the touring experience as a whole. England lost 5-0 in ODI series but our clients don’t go home unhappy; they have had a wonderful time, sights and sounds of India, bonding as a group and enjoying the magic of a Howzat tour. The victory in the final match, a one off T20, meant we, like the England team themselves, returned home with a spring in our step.
We may not have seen the ‘little master’ or King of Indian cricket Sachin Tendulkar, as injury robbed him, Sehwag, Broad and Morgan from taking part in this series, but we were privileged enough to have witnessed some magnificent performances from the crown Prince MS Dhoni, a wonderful captain and batsman – only time England got him out in the whole series was run out off the last ball of the T20. From an England perspective those who were there saw Steven Finn mature into a truly international class fast bowler who will surely play in all forms of the game from now on rather than just be a squad member.
The lack of Tendulkar, and possibly too much cricket in general, meant unfortunately for us intrepid English (and SA) tourists the Indian crowds stayed away with small attendances in the grounds. We did get a feel for the atmosphere with English fours and sixes greeted by silence and dot balls with rapturous cheers. (I felt an important part of the support as Kieswetter, Pietersen, Trott, Dernback and Meaker all hail from my country).
Not that there was too much silence – the English were well and truly outplayed on the park losing the first match in Delhi by 8 wickets with 80 balls remaining, the second in Mohali (much closer but still lost) by 5 wickets with 4 balls remaining, the third in Mumbai by 6 wickets with 59 balls remaining and the fourth by 95 runs.
4-0 down we headed to the world famous Eden Gardens in hope of an England victory. Looked to be on course when having restricted the Indians to 271-8 (the imperious Dhoni scoring a magnificent 75 not out from 69 balls meaning he had scored 212 not out in the series) Cook and Kieswetter took England to 129-0. All too familiar collapse followed as they lost all 10 wickets for 47 runs to lose by 6 wickets with 8 balls remaining.
The T20 provided something of a relief. England the World Champions in this format could take something home from this tour. Magnificent batting from Kevin Pietersen, Finn taking 3-22 and inventive captaincy from Graeme Swann….
Until next time,
Des
