Thoughts on the 1st India v England Test
I may well be disproved wrong by the time you read this but England look set for at least a draw and possibly a win at Chennai.
To win in India is at tough as it gets.
It used to be the West Indies, then Australia but now the sub-continent is the most demanding examination of tests.
Much has been made of the return to cricket on free to air television.
Channel 4 has recorded excellent figures particularly mid-morning but I have found their coverage dull.
They take the actual feed from Star Sports with Rishi Persaud, a stalwart of Channel 4 racing and Sir Alistair Cook.
Persaud tends to tee it up for Cook who is telegenic, pleasant but not earth shattering. He was more run accumulator than a Benaud captain.
Still on captaincy, there is a theory that Joe Root’s run fest may well be due to coach Chris Silverwood being more involved in tactics and preparation than his predecessor Trevor Bayliss.
Mark Nicholas was an excellent captain at Hampshire who has done well in a second media career.
He heads up the Talksport ball by ball commentary assisted by Steve Harmiston and Darren Gough.
The latter two are too technical and I rather missed the wit and cheer of Aggers and the TMS crew whilst wondering how it is that the Beeb can afford to broadcast live premier football but not a key overseas tour.
