A cricket post

There's been a lot of comment about the England team's decision to rest key players (including the captain) during their tour of Bangladesh, and I'd like to add my insignificant vote of confidence to their decision. We've only just got through the ODIs, but I think it's possible to identify some benefits of this strategy already:

1. Cook has been able to get valuable experience of captaincy. He is clearly the nation's captain in waiting, and as such he should benefit from more than the odd fill-in game. England players don't get the opportunity to captain their county sides, so the vast majority of the contracted players have never captained a team since their school days. Why do we expect them to pick it up immediately following their appointment to the job?
2. Other players have been given the chance to prove themselves on the international scene. This has to be good for them and for the selectors.

One final thing I noticed on the scorecard from Chittagong is that KP has finally been allowed to turn his arm over a bit. This is something I would have liked to have seen over the summer when he was really scratching around for a contribution with the bat, and even in the field. I thought it might have helped if he'd felt a bit more involved in the game by bowling a few overs; he may even have taken the odd wicket like he did today.

All in all, I think England's approach to Bangladesh has been sensible. Let's hope the benefits roll forward to the coming summer.