Tour of India 2012-13                      Captain :  Alastair Cook           

England’s 102nd Test tour

(October - December 2012)

(January 2013)

Sixteenth Test playing tour of India by England

   (previous tour 2008-09)

After sending texts about skipper Andrew Strauss to the 2012 South Africans’ dressing room, Kevin Pietersen was dropped. New captain Alastair Cook wanted to reintegrate him into the team so, only after an  apology and committing to the England team again could Pietersen be selected, a month after the original team for India, without him, was announced.

Pietersen was, however, one of the stars of the series. The leading English batsman was Cook with three centuries but Pietersen played an innings of 186 at Mumbai which added 206 with Cook AND ensured England’s victory.

England gained a Test series win in India for the first time since 1984-85.

Nearly thirty players were called up during the whole tour, continuing England’s policy of rotating the squad to reduce workload.

Press agencies boycotted the first Test at Ahmedabad because of the fees for press passes.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Sri Lanka 2011-12

Next Test tour

 New Zealand 2012-13

Next tour of  India

2016-17

Members of the Test tour party (17  +  1)

Opening batsmen:  Alistair Cook, Nick Compton

Middle-order batsmen Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Keven Pietersen

Wicket-keepers: Matt Prior, Johnny Bairstow

All-rounder:  Samit Patel

Slow bowlers: Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar

Fast bowlers:Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn, Stuart Meaker, Graham Onions.

⋄  On 7 September 2012 the following were awarded full central ECB contracts: James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott.

In December  Nick Compton and Samit Patel were awarded incremental contracts.

County representation:

Dm - Durham (1)

Ex  -  Essex (1)

La - Lancashire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (2)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (3)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Sy - Surrey (1)

Sx - Sussex (2)

Wk - Warwickshire (2)

Yo - Yorkshire (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(15 November 2012): 

    28 yrs  5 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Pietersen 88,  Cook 83,  Bell 80,  Anderson 73,  Prior 58,  Broad 50,  Swann 46,  Panesar 42,  Trott 34,  Bresnan 16, Finn 16, Morgan 16,  Onions 9,  Bairstow 4,  Patel 2,  Compton 0,  Meaker 0,  Root 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Geoff Miller (national selector),  Andy Flower (Team Director),  Ashley Giles,  James Whitaker.

Selection

Not considered:   Andrew Strauss (retired);  Kevin Pietersen (after sending texts about Strauss to South Africa’s dressing rooms in August  -  he was not included in the list of central contracts for 2012/13 announced on 7 September)

Tour Party Announced  : 18 September 2012

Not selected:  Ravi Bopara,  James Taylor.

Addition :  Kevin Pietersen was then given a temporary 4-month contract after meeting Alistair Cook and Andy Flower in Oxford, and added to the team on 18 October as part of his “reintegration process”.

Time between selection and departure from England

   37 days

 (18 September - 25 October)

Travel

London  Q   DubaiQ  Mumbai

Departure was from London on 25 October.  

Arrived next morning for three days of training at the ICC Academy in Dubai.  Four county players (James Tredwell, Scott Borthwick, Simon Kerrigan and Azeem Rafiq) were also flown out to give the England batsmen practice against spin bowling.

The team arrived in Mumbai on Monday 29 October.

Ian Bell returned from paternity leave to play the third Test.

Time spent in India

    days

(29 October -  December

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Stuart Meaker flew in on 4 November as cover for Steven Finn and stayed with the team for a fortnight.  Finn  tested the fitness of his thigh strainwith the England Performance Programme team's match against Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai, but then suffered a back injury. He and Stuart Broad (heel injury) returned to England

James Tredwell joined the Test squad on 1 December as cover for Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann.

Fixtures/Results

(BS)   Brabourne Stadium

(PSA)   Patil Sports Academy

(WS)   Wankhede Stadium

† not first-class

§ -  one-day international

Å  -  T20 international

Time spent in India before First Test:   17 days

(29 October - 15 November)

Test appearances on tour

4  -   Anderson,  Compton,  Cook,  Pietersen,  Prior,  Swann,  Trott

3  -   Bell,  Panesar,  Patel, 

2  -   Bresnan,  Broad, 

1  -   Bairstow,  Finn,  Root

0  -    Meaker,  Morgan,  Onions 0.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

⊕ T/20 international

 W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   A abandoned

u unknown result

Steven Finn, Graham Onions, Joe Root, Stuart Meaker and Eoin Morgan all played in a three-day match on 27 November for the England Performance squad against the Patil Academy XI in Mumbai.

Highlights

•  Alastair Cook (176) defied the Indian bowlers, supported only by Matt Prior (91), as England followed-on.

•  Monty Panesar (5-129 & 6-81) and Graeme Swann (4-70 & 4-43) bowled India out twice at Mumbai

•  Alastair Cook (122) and Kevin Pietersen (186) had added 206 together to give England a lead at Mumbai

•  Cook now scored 190 at Kolkata, starting the innings with two century stands with Compton and Trott

•  James Anderson (3-38) and Steven Finn (3-45) bowled India out at Kolkata so England won again

•  A 208-run stand at Nagpur between Jonathan Trott (143) and Ian Bell (116*) rescued England’s 2nd innings.

Tour Summary

F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   D Drawn   T  Tied  Canc  Cancelled  Aban  abandoned

Return to England

Mumbai  Q  London

On c14 December Stuart Broad and Steven Finn returned to England injured. Andy Flower, Graham Gooch and Phil Neale from the management squad returned home at the end of the fourth Test.

Bairstow was flown home on 21 December before the second T20 on compassionate leave because of a family illness.

Time away from England

  x days  

(25 October  - January 2013)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript

Other Test tours in 2012-13

Acknowledgements

To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive (Gale Group);  Jamaica Gleanor archive;  National Library of Australia Trove; Papers Past NZ.

From former British Newspaper Library, Colindale and online:  The Age, Melbourne Argus, Bangladesh Daily Star, Barbados Advocate, Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, Eastern Daily Press, The Hindu, The Independent (Dhaka), Indian Express, The Island (Lanka), Lahore Times, New Nation, New Zealand Auckland Herald, Sri Lanka Daily News, Stabroek News, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph (Calcutta), Times of India , The Tribune Chandigarh, Trinidad Guardian, The West Australian.

cricketweb.net;  ESPN cricinfo;  cricket archive; www.cricketcountry; www.coverpoint

Magazines/periodicals including Australian Cricket, B & H West Indies Annual, The Cricketer International, Cricketer Quarterly, Indian Cricket, Indian Cricket Field Annual, Playfair Cricket Monthly, Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack.

Men In White, A History of Australian Cricket (Harte), A History of Indian Cricket (Bose), A History of West Indies Cricket (Manley)

Biography and tour books (own collection and at the M.C.C. Library at Lord’s Ground)                     ALL CONTENTS OF THE TEST-CRICKET-TOURS.CO.UK WEBSITE  ARE COPYRIGHT