A few plusses, too many minuses
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
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England's tour of India was a disaster on the pitch, but sometimes results can be excused for the greater good, writes Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph.
A new glasnost between the England and Wales Cricket Board and their counterparts at the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was particularly evident. Suddenly, seemingly intractable problems, such as the participation of England players in the Indian Premier League, did not seem so insoluble. What the fearful thought was the sound of gunfire was actually a bout of mutual backslapping from the two boards.
By not winning a single match of significance (their lone success came in their opening warm-up match), England's players could not claim the same sense of achievement after losing both the Test and one-day series. Plaudits were due, mainly to Pietersen and Hugh Morris, but only for the pair's leadership during the Mumbai siege and its immediate aftermath.
Also in the Daily Telegraph, Simon Hughes says, What will be recalled as the Commando and Kalashnikov Test series came to a paradoxically limp end as wicketkeeper MS Dhoni sent down a few harmless deliveries to Andrew Strauss.
If there was one lesson to draw from this two-Test series, it is that chances to win do not come along very often on the sub-continent and when you get one you have to be sure to take it, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
With the Ashes just seven months away, how is the team developing? Moores will be happy to see Andrew Strauss rehabilitated and back to his best at the top of the order, Andrew Flintoff patently fit again and beginning to find some batting form to go with his rock-solid bowling, and Matt Prior performing well enough with the gloves that the uncertainty over the wicketkeeping position can die down a while. In Graeme Swann, England have found a reliable second spinner for whom Test cricket and big reputations hold no fear.
Amjad Khan and Adil Rashid were passed over in the quest for stability, and Samit Patel misused in the one-dayers, but England must realise the attack is in transition all the same, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
Of England's Ashes-winning quartet, Matthew Hoggard has been pensioned off and suggestions that Simon Jones might somehow return to fitness for a second Ashes series seem too fanciful by half. At least Andrew Flintoff has survived India unscathed. But what of Steve Harmison, dropped in both one-day and Test series, and whose mood was once again dragged down by life on tour? England, as has already been remarked, can't live with him and they can't live without him.
Also check out David Hopps' England's tour report in order of merit in the Guardian.
Despite hindrances England performed remarkably well, competing hard against a top outfit arguably playing the best cricket in the world. There were several times in each Test when England could have wilted but they continued to fight and they can leave India with their heads held high, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
If Monty Panesar was Indian, he would have been nowhere near Mohali. He would have been at one of four venues preparing for the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals, assuming the team he played for had made it that far, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo