England to train in Dubai en route to India

Dubai: The England cricket team will train at the International Cricket Council Global Cricket Academy (ICC GCA) in Dubai Sports City for three days this month to acclimatise to subcontinent conditions ahead of their tour to India.

Speaking to Gulf News, Maqbul Dudhia, Dubai Sports City’s Head of Sports Business, said: “Our innovative step by importing soils from the subcontinent and Australia to replicate pitch characteristics associated with countries in these regions has come handy. England will train on pitches with subcontinent soil here before flying out to India.”

The Alastair Cook-led England will practice at the GCA’s two oval grounds and also utilise the indoor facilities and state-of-the-art gymnasium during their stay between October 26 and 28. They will also hold net practice sessions at the GCA’s outdoor practice arena.

“Dubai Sports City established the ICC GCA in partnership with the ICC and England’s visit is another illustration of the fact that Dubai and the ICC GCA is the perfect location for cricket teams from around the world to visit and work on their skills using the world’s best facilities,” said Dudhia.

“We will help England’s players fine-tune their game and the weather here now will allow them to work hard outdoors as much as they want.”

England were impressed with the facilities when they trained at the ICC GCA during their series against Pakistan in the UAE in January this year. They will again get to use modern technologies such as Pro Batter, which allows batsmen to replicate facing the world’s leading bowlers.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said the squad’s training camp in Dubai will be closed, with no media access, as they are keen to fully utilise the time for training without any distractions. They will fly out of Dubai late on October 28.

However, England’s star player Kevin Pietersen is unlikely to be here. His presence will depend on the progress of his Delhi Daredevils side in the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.

If Delhi make it to the semi-finals, which are scheduled to take place on October 25 and 26, with the final on October 28, Pietersen may travel directly to India.

England are scheduled to play four Test matches, two Twenty20 Internationals and five One Day Internationals during their India tour.

After arriving in India from Dubai, England will play in three warm-up matches prior to the start of the Test series. From October 30 to November 1, they will play India ‘A’ at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, before they take on Mumbai ‘A’ at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai from November 3 to 5. England will also play a four-day match at Ahmedabad from November 8 to 11.

The India A team to play England will be announced on Wednesday.