Moores hints at bowling changes for India

England

England coach Peter Moores has not ruled out the possibility of fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad being rested for part of the five-match Test series against India next month.

England coach Peter Moores has not ruled out the possibility of fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad being rested for part of the five-match Test series against India next month.

Anderson and BRod looked exhausted and slightly niggly by the end of the series against Sri Lanka, which England lost, and Moores was asked if the senior quicks would be given a break. He hedged his bets somewhat.

The coach said: "For any bowler the way the Tests are constructed means it is a tight one. But like most things it depends on how the Test matches shape up… do they go the full five days?"

Moores was then asked if Moeen Ali being used sparingly was part of the reason for the pacemen's exhaustion, but he denied it, saying a spinner bowling didn't reduce the pace workloads that much.

He added: "It has been two tough Test matches, no doubt about that, and that goes with the territory. I heard people talking about the workloads being more.

"I don't think it is any more when you're playing four seamers and not three. The fourth seamer and the spinner take the same overs that [Graeme] Swann would have bowled. The workload has been no different.

"I said before, we're not going to hide from anything, we'll look at everything and we'll discuss what we're going to do.

"We're going to go into back-to-back Test matches with India and the spirit we played with on Tuesday and the fight we showed we need to show every second of every day in every Test match we play."

He added: "We've got to look at the series as a whole, look at all aspects and then pick a side for the first Test conscious that it is a five-match series and will be tough."

Moores then went on to say that the squad for the India series was nowhere near fixed, and that anyone could make way for someone like Ben Stokes, who has been on fire for Durham since his return from injury.

He continued: "Test match teams have never been picked on the back of one performance by anybody. Any Test side you pick, it is a tough side to get into and it is a tough side to stay in, always has been.

"You pick the team that you think is ready to go into that Test or those circumstances or whatever. That means there is always going to be a 12- or 13-man squad and some people are going to miss out.

"We've had Chris Woakes miss out in this series and he's having a fantastic season and has definitely moved forward as a player. He's just missed out but that is international sport, it is a tough place to get in."

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