India go back to basics

By Scott Heinrich
BBC Sport at Dorridge Cricket Club

It's a gusty autumn day in the West Midlands, and warm-up games don't come much chillier than this.

Famous names adorn the Dorridge CC score book

Dorridge Cricket Club is a world removed from what awaits India when they face Pakistan in the Champions Trophy at Edgbaston on Sunday.

But this humble, overtly English setting is where they find themselves as they fine-tune their considerable skills against 11 club cricketers cobbled together at short notice.

India expected to play an ECB XI, but discover on arrival at the ground that their opponents are instead a collection of local players of significantly inferior quality.

"It's nice here, but it's not the best preparation the Pakistan game. We didn't know we were going to be playing this kind of side," off-spinner Harbhajan Singh tells BBC Sport.

The show must go on nevertheless, and India's stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid thinks batting first is a good idea.

"Hopefully it will be some good practice for the batters," Harbhajan adds.

India's highly paid professionals sit on plastic chairs in the 'visitors' area and watch their team-mates bat, cordoned-off by plastic tape from a huddle of gawping fans drinking tea and beer.

You've got to get the ball in the right place to these sort of guys Andy Bryan

It may be all too bewildering for the players, demi-gods in their cricket-mad homeland, but for the good people of Dorridge it is an occasion to savour.

After all, it isn't every day an international cricket team comes to town.

"This is definitely a first," says club president Martin Ward, who is doubling up on public address duties.

"It's a great honour. We're very pleased to have India here and we're all having a good time.

"These players might not be in the same league as India, but to be on the same ground is something they won't forget in a hurry."

Unfortunately, no Dorridge players made the side, but Ward says this is unsurprising as the first XI have had an ordinary year in the Birmingham & District Premier League.

Out in the middle, India are happily piling on the runs.

Out-of-form opener Virender Sehwag blows away some cobwebs with 59 before holing out at mid-on, while Dravid, in the finest village cricket tradition, retires himself on 68.

There is no joy, however, for Yuvraj Singh, who strokes four singles before falling caught behind to wily Smethwick seamer Andy Bryan.

"Any international wicket is tremendous, and Yuvraj is a quality player," Bryan says.

"You've got to get the ball in the right place to these sort of guys, because if you give them any length or width they put you away.

India's players wait their turn at the boundary edge

"I was pleased with the one that got Yuvraj. It did a bit and nipped away from him. It will be something to tell the grandkids about."

But before scouts start noting the name, Ward steps in with a dose of reality.

"It was only two weeks ago that one of our 17-year-old players at Dorridge scored 120 off Andy Bryan," he laughs.

"So he's gone from being merrily murdered by a teenager one week to getting Yuvraj Singh out the next."

Over at the flipboard scoreboard, local lad Matthew is working overtime as India throw the bat at the death and lose a few wickets in the process.

"Who's this coming in at 10?" the youngster asks as he squints at the figure in the distance.

It turns out to be Mohammad Kaif.

"Kaif? They can't be taking this game too seriously."

Maybe not, but just by being here India have provided the sleepy town of Dorridge with memories to last for many summers to come.