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Fielding, bringing drinks, trips to the chip shop and having to wear a luminous bib are all part of being out of the side
The England players are locked away in luxury and, as Ashley Giles has pointed out, it’s going to be tough for them – “no holiday camp”, he said – especially since the rest of the country now has permission for some mild gallivanting.
Soon a large Test squad of around 20 players will be announced for the West Indies series, so who among them will have the toughest assignment? The obvious answer with three back-to-back Tests is the pacemen, though, as ever, we have been promised plenty of rotation, a strategy that has been talked about far more frequently than employed (Stuart Broad has not missed a home Test since 2012, when he was rested against West Indies). However, that may not be the correct answer. For numbers 18, 19 and 20 in the squad, the players who are unlikely to participate in the series at all barring significant injuries/ill-health, the experience could be tougher still. Continue reading...