Rotation policy not fair on spectators
In the Times Online , Michael Atherton spares a thought for the paying public, who will not get to witness England's best players when their team takes on Bangladesh at Lord's.
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
In the Times Online, Michael Atherton spares a thought for the paying public, who will not get to witness England's best players when their team takes on Bangladesh at Lord's.
If you were hoping to cast your eyes over the best England XI for the opening match of the summer, you will be disappointed. As “managing his workload” goes, Stuart Broad’s withdrawal is not quite in the Chris Tremlett class (he was withdrawn from Surrey’s opening match of the season — opening match! — because he was “managing his workload”), nevertheless it is a disappointment. It is, after all, the first Test of the summer. The daughter of the Deputy Editor of this newspaper will regret that his cherubic features will be absent from our screens over the next five days.
If you were hoping to show your gratitude to Paul Collingwood, for his leadership of England’s Twenty20 team in the Caribbean recently, you will be disappointed, too. Collingwood could have played, but he has been withdrawn to treat a niggling shoulder injury — one that has been troubling him since and, note, during England’s tour to Bangladesh the previous time they played Test cricket.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo