England kick off their training for the five-Test series in India this Friday, engaging in three weeks of play on spinning pitches in Abu Dhabi.
A squad of 20 England Lions travelled to the UAE on Thursday. Throughout the training camp, Test coach Brendon McCullum, additional coaching staff, vice-captain Ollie Pope, experienced fast bowler Jimmy Anderson, and left-arm spinner Jack Leach will join the squad at different intervals.
The main focus of the trip will be to replicate match situations, gearing up for the usual conditions experienced in the subcontinent. This preparation aims to ready Ben Stokes' team for the challenges they'll encounter from January to March.
"The way we’ll design our practice, we’ll do quite a lot of time in the middle, a lot of middle wicket practice sessions," said ECB performance director Mo Bobat to Daily Mail.
"We don’t do a huge amount of netting on a Lions training camp. We’re trying to recreate situations and moments that take place in Test matches and give players exposures to those moments," he added.
"The way we’ll design our practice, we’ll do quite a lot of time in the middle, a lot of middle wicket practice sessions," Mo Bobat continued
"We don’t do a huge amount of netting on a Lions training camp. We’re trying to recreate situations and moments that take place in Test matches and give players exposures to those moments."
"Have they got the presence of mind to understand what’s going on and then do they clearly understand their strength and can they use those strengths to put the opposition under pressure. The more time we spend putting the opposition under pressure, the less time that’s happening to us," he concluded.
England has the chance to overtake India and claim the top spot in the ICC Test rankings with an away series victory. However, they should brace themselves for formidable pitches, as their previous tour to the subcontinent in early 2021 showed. Despite winning the first Test, they struggled against India's spinners, only managing totals ranging from 81 to 205 in their last six innings of the series.
It must be noted England have a history of organising camps like these in Abu Dhabi. They also had a camp in Abu Dhabi before coming to Pakistan last year.
England Lions winter training squad: Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), George Balderson (Lancashire), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Jack Carson (Sussex), James Coles (Sussex), Josh de Caires (Middlesex), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Tom Hartley (Lancashire), Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Tom Lawes (Surrey), Dan Mousley (Warwickshire), Callum Parkinson (Durham), Matthew Potts (Durham), Rishi Patel (Leicestershire), Ollie Price (Gloucestershire), James Rew (Somerset), Ollie Robinson (Durham), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), John Turner (Hampshire)