Our correspondent rubs shoulders with the stars, and soaks up the desert sun of the UAE
Andrew McGlashan06-Nov-2015October 11
First full day on tour. Head down to the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi to watch training. It’s hot, but apparently already cooler than the first few days, when the team and colleagues arrived. Players say they had never felt temperatures like in Sharjah, where the warm-up matches were played. The spaceship-style stadium at the ground provides welcome shade as England go through a high-intensity training session. England’s batsmen have promised to stay true to themselves and play positively; during nets they repeatedly ping balls over the boundary towards the watching press. I’m sure it isn’t intentional.The evening is spent at the launch of a new statistical analysis tool that takes the study of cricket numbers to a new level of detail. They can tell you how far a delivery has seamed or spun, or how far ahead of the game a team is, based on historical data. Who says there’s too much data in cricket?October 12
Yasir Shah skips in to bowl during Pakistan’s nets session. Next thing, he’s in a heap at the crease. Then he’s helped off the ground. It doesn’t look good. What a moment this could be. Nervous, worried looks from the Pakistan camp. Misbah-ul-Haq is uneasy at his press conference. They have no back-up spinner.October 14
The record books are thumbed as Adil Rashid toils and toils. He finishes with none for 163, the most expensive figures by a Test debutant, overtaking another legspinner – Australia’s Bryce McGain. There is one moment when a shot is chipped just over mid-off that Rashid almost goes to his knees in the bowling crease.The Abu Dhabi heat was hardly a deterrent for the enthusiastic cricketers of a local corporate league•Andrew McGlashan/ESPNcricinfoOctober 16
As the Test match continues on a flat pitch, games pop up around the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, on concrete pitches that offer more bounce than the one we are watching. At lunch I decide to wander over and see who is playing. My goodness, it brings home the heat of the day – just a ten-minute stroll and you are melting. How does Alastair Cook do it?The local players usher me into their tent and offer a bottle of water. Afzal introduces himself. He is part of Serco-zu Raptors. They are playing in a corporate league made up of teams from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. It’s the first weekend of the season for them, as temperatures begin to drop (or so they insist). Their innings finishes on 199 off 20 overs. The enthusiasm and joy for the game is clear. Afzal says that the finals of the tournament, which are played in the nursery ground of the main stadium, can attract up to 2000 people. If anyone knows what the final result in the game was, let me know.October 17
Nailed-on dull draw, surely? Maybe not, then. When England declare with a lead of 75, it feels like a token effort to put some pressure on Pakistan. But Rashid bags five to leave 99 needed in 19 overs. However, the light is already fading. They will never get the overs in. Sure enough, after 11, the umpires come together and the players walk off. It’s unsatisfactory, but it later emerges the captains were given the chance to keep playing and they declined. The day-night experiment can’t come soon enough. Cricket must stop being so insular.October 18
A very relaxed press chat with England coach Trevor Bayliss the morning after the dramatic finish. Then it’s on the road to Dubai – no need for internal flights on this tour – in time for the biggest contest of the trip: the Media v ICC cricket match.There had been concerns over the fitness of key legspinner, Scyld Berry of the , but he makes a remarkable recovery. The side is captained by John Etheridge of the and includes a couple of chaps who, from memory, played a bit: M Vaughan and G Swann. The ICC includes Adrian Griffith as an opener and they compile an impressive 170 despite the best efforts of Berry. In reply, David Clough of the Press Association and Paul Radley of the lay a solid foundation but the asking rate rises above 10 an over, and despite the best efforts of Vaughan and Swann the chase falls just short. Media requests after the match are refused as the team goes into lockdown. It is understood book deals are in the offing.Excess baggage: the 1995 Singer Champions Trophy, still awaiting a Sri Lanka-bound flight•Andrew McGlashan/ESPNcricinfoOctober 19
It’s strange what you can stumble across during a tour. Invited to a launch event for the Masters Champions League (it’s clearly in vogue for players to come out of retirement), I happen on what turns out to be quite a big story. One of the rules of participating in the MCL is that a player has to have retired from all three international formats. Sat at the top table is Virender Sehwag. An early question to him is along the lines of, “You haven’t retired from international cricket yet.” He responds with, “I will, to play in the MCL.” It appears Sehwag has just retired. A tweet (not entirely innocent, I’ll admit) is followed by some frenzied activity on the timeline, followed by a call from the ESPNcricinfo Bangalore office. It all makes me chuckle; the guy hasn’t played for India in two and a half years and is a day shy of 37. Semantics then play a part in whether he actually has retired, before a video interview confirms it, although the announcement will come in India. I only came for the food and music.October 20
Entertained at the British consulate as part of an event to welcome the England team to town. The players are in attendance and very relaxed; it’s a noticeable change over the last six months. Interesting chatting with some of the expats about life in Dubai – the place splits opinion, but there seem to be plenty of perks to living overseas.October 26
More final-session drama when it did not appear likely. This time England are eight down at tea, but get within seven overs of saving the game. Rashid is almost the hero (again) only to drive to cover, having played superbly for nearly four hours. Not the fifth-day impact people talk about for a legspinner.A peculiar sight near the groundsman’s allotments in Sharjah•Andrew McGlashan/ESPNcricinfoOctober 27
Bayliss reflects on England’s almost-great escape in Dubai. As ever, he is honest and straightforward with his answers. Wonder how he was able to keep his emotions in check when the middle order was playing a few of those shots on the third morning which cost England the game.Then it’s on to an event with Shane Warne and Michael Vaughan to launch a golf tournament. They are vice-captains of Australia and Rest of the World respectively. Ask Vaughan what would be more nerve-wracking: the final moments of Edgbaston in 2005 or a four-foot putt to win a match. “The four-footer, no doubt,” he says. “At least with cricket I sort of knew what I was doing.”Manage to grab a few minutes with Warne afterwards where he says he would like to bowl with Yasir in the nets. When asked about the challenge of bowling first as a legspinner, he reflects on how he had to do it a fair bit and mentions Edgbaston in that ’05 summer. “Ricky Ponting won the toss and bowled.” Enough said.October 29
It’s always fun to visit a ground for the first time. This is my first look at Sharjah, one of the game’s most storied venues. A world away from Dubai or Abu Dhabi, but wonderful for it. Close your eyes and you can almost hear the roars as Sachin belts another boundary or Wasim uproots another stump.Meet Mazhar Khan, who has been involved since 1975 and has seen it all through the years. He has a collection of trophies on his sideboard, one of which stands out more than others. It’s the Singer Champions Trophy from 1995, which Sri Lanka won as a precursor to their World Cup triumph. Why’s it still here? It was so big that Sri Lanka didn’t want to carry it home, so it has lived in Mazhar’s office for 20 years.Also find goats tethered up near the groundsman’s allotments. You don’t see that at Lord’s. Wonder if they are a reason there’s no grass on the pitch.October 30
Warne is good value as he speaks after a training session with Rashid – to follow one with Yasir – but you wonder whether the hyperbole has gone a little too far when he says Rashid has as good a legbreak as there is. Still, if some of that confidence from Warne rubs off on Rashid, English cricket will be well served.Manage to escape to the desert for an evening of dune-bashing, local food, camel-riding and star-gazing. Even while still relatively close to Dubai, it reminds you of the vast emptiness that surrounds the glittering city.November 3
Sit in on a second international retirement in two weeks, as Shoaib Malik surprisingly calls it quits in Test cricket two Tests after making 245. As he repeats the fact about having a five-year gap in his Test career, you can’t help but feel he just wanted the chance to show he could still do it, although scores after his double – 0, 2, 7, 38, and a first-ball duck – tend to sum up his career. As England strive to stay in the series, Malik’s reprieve on 40, when Stuart Broad overstepped in Abu Dhabi, now looks even more pivotal.November 5
No final session, fifth-day drama this time. England barely made it past lunch, spun out by Yasir, Zulfiqar Babar and Malik. A brief reminder of 2012, but this has been a much improved performance by England although plenty of holes remain in the team. It’s a delight to see Pakistan win again. However cynical you want to be about rankings, moving up to No. 2 in the world is a wonderful achievement. Maybe one day there will be a chance to cover a series in Pakistan. For now, they remain a force in a home away from home.