Tourists will need to have tactics in place for shortened games...
Sunday 23 November 2014 18:44, UK
Sky Sports News HQ's Tim Abraham absorbs the sights and sounds of Sri Lanka as England's intensive tour gets off to a rainy start...
England’s cricketers had just about got away with until now!
As I write the second and final warm-up match against Sri Lanka A has been called off, affected by heavy rain. There could be more days like this!
The first week of the tour was all about dodging heavy showers during this, Sri Lanka’s rainy season. Once the pattern of hot days and wet late afternoons had been registered, all practice sessions were arranged for the morning to make sure of meaningful acclimatisation.
It was bad light, not rain that stopped play in the first warm-up match against Sri Lanka A, but England were cruising to victory, but for the second match, it rained on and off all Sunday morning.
The weather is bound to play it’s part in the seven-match one day series at this rate; it’s a theme and tour talking point, and whatever they are faced with England must adapt to, and make the best of a bad job.
In fact Harry Gurney made a valid point during his interview after a successful net practice - England will have to be on the ball and have tactics in place for shortened games, and any interruptions could be good practice for that, if there’s a weather problem during the World Cup.
Intensive
The first week of the tour has flown by. I have covered England in Sri Lanka many times but I came by a very different route this time, via the Maldives.
It all looked glamorous on the boarding pass, and in fact we did fly in in over sun-kissed, tiny islands, surrounded by turquoise waters, but an hour-and-a-half sat on the tarmac, not getting off the plane was the reality of the first leg, and then it was onto Colombo, a hop of an hour or so.
In the couple of years since the World T20 was held here, a brand new motorway has been opened so getting into the city from the airport is a much smoother and more comfortable affair.
Nothing competes with the traffic, the noise and hustle and bustle of Dhaka, Bangladesh, but this is the sub-continent and Colombo can have its moments. Getting to and from the airport before was always a bit hectic, but not now. Having said that, once you turn off the motorway, it does get very busy, so in the city centre not much has changed.
I left the UK on Sunday evening, and arrived in Colombo Monday lunchtime (we are five-and-a-half hours ahead of you). The England squad touched down at around 3.30 am Monday morning, so the rest of the day was all about getting over the flight and jet lag.
First practice was on Tuesday morning, and we spoke to Ravi Bopara, about his recall, and World Cup ambitions. It was Gurney on Wednesday, and Peter Moores on Thursday, before a series launch press conference in the evening, which was attended by both Captains and Coaches.
The locals were packed in and Kevin Pietersen’s absence, and his book was very much part of their agenda; Alastair Cook was expecting it, and not for the first time spoke about how England had moved on without him.
It’s an intensive cricket tour with two practice matches and seven one-day Internationals crammed into a month, and amid the important cricket issues to cover, it’s so important in this part of the world to ‘spruce up’ our stories and packages with nice “colour”, especially in this part of the world, and so far we have had snake charmers, kids cricket, tuk-tuks, street food and kites to try and reflect the sights and sounds of Sri Lanka.
Follow Tim’s reports of England’s tour on Sky Sports News HQ and watch England’s seven-match ODI series against Sri Lanka live on Sky Sports, starting with the first ODI on Wednesday from 8.30am on SS2.
