England Cricket / Frank Gregan / 11 July 2011 /

Beating the best Test side in the world will take more than the odd Stuart Broad glare or Eoin Morgan reverse sweep. Here's what England need to do in the words of Frank Gregan.

England's summer cricket festival is getting into full swing. Sri Lanka the supporting band are heading home via Ireland and Scotland as the headline act, India, arrive to play 11 gigs. Four Tests, one T20 and five fifty-over games is the mouth-watering set and India need have no fear about playing in front of difficult crowds. They have more than their share of supporters in England and will be well received wherever they play.

And so they should be. This is a brilliant cricket team rated number one in the ICC Test rankings who also happen to be the ODI World Champions. England will have to be at their very best to keep their successful summer run going because although Sri Lanka played their part, they never quite looked the real deal. India will be a totally different proposition. As well as possessing a wealth of talent, they are incredibly resilient.

So how can England beat them? Here's a few wacky suggestions that Andy Flower and his multitude of skippers are unlikely to consider but there's some logic behind the madness.

1: Manufacture conditions that suit the English players. These days it's possible to produce man-made clouds. The ECB needs to spend less on bowling machines, synthetic surfaces and gin and tonics and plough a significant amount of its resources into producing cloud directly over its grounds.

Jimmy Anderson swings more than Tarzan when the cloud cover is to his liking and he should be given every assistance. NASA has laid off most of their scientists now that the shuttle has flown its last mission and perhaps the ECB could take on a couple of them to knock up a few fluffy white clouds and the odd ominous humidity-filled grey one. Chuck in a bitter, howling wind, a few odd periods of sleet and you have ideal English cricket conditions.

2. Make the most of their height advantage. England's pace attack of Chris Tremlett, Steve Finn and Stuart Broad have a combined height which is about four feet taller than Mount Kilimanjaro! India have their share of diminutive batsmen who may struggle with some chin music being bowled from extreme heights. Surgical neck collars might be needed for some of the batsmen to see the ball at the time of delivery and if the old adage of 'a good big 'un always beats a good little 'un' applies, then England will have the edge.

3. Ask the Indians to add to their coaching staff. There's no doubt that India pulled off a master stroke when they recruited former England coach Duncan Fletcher. The Zimbabwean did a superb job during his time with England and he deserves to be in charge of the best team in the world.

Sometimes you've got to take the rough with the smooth, stick a bit of yin alongside yang and get a balance. In order to compensate for hiring one of our former greats how about they add someone to their coaching staff who doesn't talk quite as much sense say....Geoff Boycott.

Imagine Geoffrey getting lost in the team's hotel at night not knowing what floor he was on - he'd be wandering his beloved 'corridors of uncertainty' all night!

Okay, none of those tongue-in-cheek suggestions will work but the logic is not as crazy as it sounds. England need conditions to be in their favour and in particular they need weather that the Indians are not comfortable or familiar with.

They need their tall pace attack to intimidate the Indian top order by charging in with the new ball and testing their mettle. And finally, the battle of the Zimbabwean coaches will be crucial. If Andy Flower and his coaching staff out-think Duncan Fletcher over selection and tactics, then England will have every chance.

It will take something special for England to win this Test series; the Indian team are a far more tenacious and cohesive bunch than the Sri Lankans. England are [2.46] to win the series, India are [3.2] with a drawn series available at [3.55]. At those prices the recommendation has to be India, unless we get some English music festival weather!

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