ECB looking at Lions tour to India to help England’s spinners

The lack of alternative options in county cricket that led to the SOS to retired Moeen Ali for these Ashes has encouraged England management to create opportunities for emerging spinners in other environments.

Frustrated by a lack of overs at home, Mail sports understands that the ECB is seeking greater exposure next winter by organizing an England Lions tour to India.

The proposed route of three four-day Tests against India A would run concurrently with the full England Test in January-February.

Preliminary talks have already taken place with the Indian board, while other avenues are explored, including placing individuals – limited in their effectiveness in county cricket by the heavy scheduling of matches in sailor-friendly months – in first-class leagues in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

England Lions have no formal activity planned this summer, but another idea being considered is inviting spinners onto the England trail for bespoke sessions in Loughborough.

Jack Leach, pictured here playing in the country, suffered an injury for the Ashes and left England with a spin crisis

Will Jacks (left) and Rehen Ahmed (right) were options to replace Leach but were not deemed ready

At the time of the back injury that ruled him out of the five Tests v Australia – Jack Leach was the only spinner in double figures in terms of County Championship wickets this season. A statistic that influenced the calls to Moeen about resuming his testing career.

The help of the Hollies

The England players praise the raucous atmosphere in Edgbaston for influencing the results and the Hollies Stand certainly did their best to upset the Australians on Monday.

“We saw you crying on TV,” they told Steve Smith, referring to his emotional breakdown when he was banned for his part in Australia’s sandpaper scandal.

And David Warner got a “Broady’s gonna get you” encounter, in relation to the hexagon that Stuart Broad has held over the southpaw for the past few years.

McCullum dodges the team bus

Brendon McCullum’s penchant for doing things his own way extends to traveling to the ground on test match days.

Here in Birmingham he has been seen walking to Edgbaston instead of hopping on the England team bus, and he had bowling coach David Saker for company.

Nor have they opted for the conventional route and begin their two-mile journey on the canal towpaths that wind behind the team hotel.

Brendon McCullum has opted not to take the team bus to the game during the Ashes’ opening match in Edgbaston

He has walked two miles from the team hotel to the ground next to bowling coach David Saker (left)

Golf for Brook

Harry Brook’s improvement as a ball striker has not been limited to cricket.

Nine months in the England team environment has also done wonders for his golf.

During that period, the Yorkshire batsman’s handicap has fallen from almost double digits to 2.6 – putting him on the heels of Zak Crawley, whose handicap of 1 makes him the best golfer in the side.

The sleep struggle of the pope becomes visible

Ollie Pope has a hard time sleeping during Test matches, a factor no doubt contributing to the difference in his first and second innings returns.

The dismissal of England’s vice-captain on Monday saw his career average drop to 16.56 on second visits to the crease, compared to a first innings score of 47.91. Only one of his 15 50-plus scores has come second.

The 25-year-old pope isn’t enjoying Edgbaston either – he’s replicating that average of 16 in his six strikes for England here.

Ollie Pope’s sleep problems look set to cost him in his second innings of Test matches

The dismissal of the England vice-captain on Monday means his second innings average is now 16.56 compared to a first innings average of 47.91

Sales increase for day five

Edgbaston will sell out 25,000 for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday, following a flurry of ticket purchases in the past 24 hours.

Pre-test sales for tickets for day five – priced at £25 – exceeded 14,000 and that figure had risen above 20,000 by lunchtime on Monday.

The hunger for seats is replicated for the ladies Ashes – with Edgbaston having the best numbers of combined sales of 80,000.

Trent Bridge, venue for the five-day test that opens the multi-format series on Thursday, has passed the 14,500 mark.