Surface tension creeps in away-leg of England Tests

After being served sharp turning pitches in India earlier this year, will England offer more green tops or rely on swing?

How much will the Dukes ball talk? Will it move in the air more or deviate off the surface? What about the conditions? Is it going to stay overcast or sunny most of the time? And how frequently will Day 1 pitches be undistinguishable from the infield? England and India will watch out for all these determining factors that make Test cricket all the more exciting. The focus, quite justifiably, will be on the pitch after the way India used it to their advantage during the home series against England earlier this year. After suffering defeat on a reasonably turning Chennai pitch in the first Test, India threw all courtesy through the window to produce three dry, square turners that England just couldn’t figure out. By the end of the series, parity was restored as Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel pocketed 59 wickets between them.

England's James Anderson during nets practice prior to the first Test Match against India at Trent Bridge (AP)

“I don’t think India can have any complaints if we do leave grass on, because what we came against in our last tour of India…it certainly played in India’s hands. They used the home advantage. A lot of teams around the world do it,” said England fast bowler James Anderson in a virtual press talk with select media on Monday. Anderson still held his own in that series with his mastery over the old ball. But conditions didn’t allow him to be the enforcer, as he saw Rishabh Pant reverse-sweeping him over the slips for a boundary. When the pitch talk had picked up speed in India, Ashwin had come in vociferous defence. “What makes a good surface? Who defines this? Seam on the first day and then bat well and then spin on the last two days?” he had asked. “Come on! Who makes all these rules, we need to get over it.”

Would England be interested in returning India the favour? There’s a picture of a greenish looking Nottingham pitch that the Indian cricket board put out three days before the first Test but Anderson doesn’t want to read too much into it. “What I would say is, if there is grass left on it, India have got a strong seam attack as well. It brings them into the game,” Anderson said ahead of the Nottingham Test to be telecast on Sony Sports.

He was sure some of the grass would be shaved off. For, leaving grass on the surface would bring the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in the game. England’s pace attack is not only reliant on seam. Anderson and Sam Curran can swing the ball as well. The red ball swings all day in England, and not having a swing bowling exponent had worked against India in the World Test Championship final. “Our strength is our bowling attack. We are used to bowling here with the Dukes balls in swinging conditions,” Anderson said. “There might be some movement off the pitch as well. We will try and exploit that as much as possible.”

Generally, spinners come into play in England in the second innings. But with this series being played in the second half of the English summer, India would hope the sun bakes the pitches enough to assist more spin. India’s playing balance is hugely dependent on playing Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. If the pitches take the second spinner out of the equation, Shardul Thakur could get a look in as he can swing the ball and contribute with the bat as well.