Back to reverse for England

Will Luke

Simon Jones, England's reverse-swinging Welshman, has returned to England's squad for their tour to India in a few weeks time. Jones replaces James Anderson, and England re-unite the bowling quartet which so ruined Australia's fortunes in the Ashes. It's back to reverse for England.   

That phrase might not make much sense for the pure linguistics among us, but it has been England's mastery of reverse-swing which so caught the eye during the Ashes. While Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard both used it to reasonable effect, Jones appeared to have taught himself how to do it in under a year. An extraordinary achievement and his absence in Pakistan cost England the series.

As I write this, India are being thrown around Lahore by Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan who ended the first day of the first Test ahead on points, if not runs. This only highlights England's shortcomings in Pakistan - the failure to score consistently themselves, while also unable to restrict their opponents. Jones might be back, but the batsmen's form - the top five in particular - need to score big, consistent and heavy runs if they're to counter the Indian's ability to score heavily and quickly.

While the tandoori Ashes gets underway at Lahore, England's Ashes success must now be forgotten - for the time being, at least. Michael Vaughan himself admitted that winning in India would be a tougher battle than their clash against Australia. This is undoubtedly England's toughest test yet.

Will Luke writes for Cricinfo.com, edits The Corridor of Uncertainty and runs several other blogs.