Welcome to real Test cricket
I've heard a lot of chat this summer from some of the more experienced [England] players about how much the ball is doing and how hard it has been for batting
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
I've heard a lot of chat this summer from some of the more experienced [England] players about how much the ball is doing and how hard it has been for batting. To which I'd say: welcome to proper Test cricket, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.
Test-match bowlers are allowed to make the ball misbehave - and Test match batsmen should be able to deal with it. I've never been the sort to bang on about 'in my day', but this was the kind of challenge we faced more often than not. If it wasn't Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald running in at you, it was Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, or Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie. You had to learn how to score ugly runs when the ball was moving. I may have had my faults as a batsman, but that was something I prided myself on. And I believe it's something this England team should be better at.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo