England have good workout, but Fletcher isn't impressed England coach Duncan Fletcher is a pragmatic man, and he put things in perspective at the end of the visiting team’s only practice one-dayer. "We got some practice today, but the opposition was not too difficult, though they did try their best," Fletcher said after his team walked all over an inexperienced Cricket Association of Bengal XI (CAB XI). Batting first after Rohan Gavaskar won the toss, CAB XI struggled to 150 all out in 42.3 overs. Darren Gough was impressive, claiming 2-11 in his 5.3 overs, while Paul Collingwood claimed 3-18. When England replied, most of the top-order batsmen got starts and spent time in the middle, but the quality of the opposition meant that they couldn’t glean much satisfaction from their efforts on the day. One man who missed having a stint in the middle was star England opener Marcus Trescothick, who was down with a stomach ailment. England will be keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that he is fit in time for the first one-dayer against England.

The batsmen hold the cards Both on past record and current form, there is very little to choose between Indian and England. Even when it comes to analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams, the sides seem to be evenly matched. If India, on paper, have the stronger batting, England would seem to have the edge in bowling. In the seam department, England are much better served; India have nothing to match the tried-and-tested duo of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, and their experience of Indian conditions last month should stand Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard in good stead. In spin bowling, however, England cannot hope to match up to the Indian trio of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Sarandeep Singh. Two of these men will almost certainly take the field, for a four-pronged Indian seam attack with only one spinner will be so much easy meat to this opposition. India's hopes, thus, will rest on the spinners pulling off a trick or two, for there is no doubt that the Englishmen would prefer to face Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, rather than the spin trio. Ultimately, then, we have a scenario in which England are better served in seam bowling and India have more than an edge in the spin department, despite the presence of the persistent Ashley Giles. The onus would seem to rest on the batsmen, and both captains must be looking to the willow-wielders to get their team past this stalemate.

ECB to support Kolkata welfare home Steve Waugh has set many examples on the cricket field, but his work with Udayan is a glowing model off it. After Waugh associated himself with the activities with the home for the children of leprosy patients, the current English team is following in his footsteps. England’s Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) is to contribute 240 pounds (Rs 16,800) each year to finance 10 children at a welfare home for poor children in Kolkata. "This is a good, charitable initiative, and everyone wanted to do their best to help," said Andrew Walpole, press officer. England captain Nasser Hussain and five teammates visited the home on Tuesday in the Salt Lake area of Calcutta. Hussain, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, fast bowler Matthew Hoggard, batsmen Michael Vaughan and Owais Shah, and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles played cricket with some of the children at the home, known as SOS Village.

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