Published: Jul 25, 2018, 02:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 25, 2018, 10:45 PM (IST)
India take on Essex in a three-day tour match starting today at the The Cloudfm County Ground ahead of their five-match Test series against England . This would be India’s last chance to iron out the kinks before getting down to business in the series opener at Edgbaston on August 1st.
For Essex, it is an oppurtunity to host the world’s number one Test playing nation and a chance for the players to face prestigious opponents. But it has not been a smooth ride for Essex as Indian team management requested the match to be reduced to three days from the the initally annouced four days amid high drama over the condition of the pitch and the outfield, both of which apparently left the visitors unhappy and threw their preparations for the Test series against England haywire.
Another reason for Indian team management’s displeasure was that the two nets’ pitches were completely bald in comparison to the match wicket, which had a healthy green top. After speaking with the visiting coaches, the ground support staff shaved off the heavy grass layering from one of the adjacent wickets to make it resemble the match-wicket with an equal amount of surface grass.
The game will be played under regular playing conditions; however, a full squad of players will be available for selection over the course of the three days.
Essex has named a 13-man squad and Tom Westley takes over the captaincy from Ryan ten Doeschate who is one of a number of first team regulars who are rested.
Essex squad to face India:
Tom Westley (21) (Captain)
Aaron Beard (14)
Nick Browne (10)
Varun Chopra (6)
Matt Coles (1)
Matt Dixon (30)
James Foster (7) (Wicket-keeper)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Aron Nijjar (24)
Rishi Patel (-)
Michael Pepper (19) (Wicket-keeper)
Matt Quinn (94)
Paul Walter (22)
