England must step up if they are to pass the real test

Sports reporter(wp/es):
England started their sub-continental odyssey with a win against Bangladesh in Chittagong. However, much improvement will be required in the Second Test, starting tomorrow, if they are to move on to India with confidence.
The stakes will be high for Alastair Cook and his players here in Dhaka, not only because they will want to avoid becoming the first England team to lose to Bangladesh in 10 Tests but because they know even victory in this series will mean little when they arrive in Mumbai in the middle of next week.
Despite Bangladesh’s recent improvements, evidenced by their spirited performance in an opening Test they lost by just 22 runs, they are still the ninth-ranked team in the world.
England came perilously close to losing in Chittagong because the shortcomings that were so obvious before they left home for a tour that will see them play seven Tests before Christmas were plain for all to see again.

To win consistently in Asia a team need two things — a reliable top-order batting line-up and a world-class spinner. Unlike 2012, when England won in India for the first time in 27 years, they have neither.
Back then three of the top four in Cook, in his first tour as full-time Test captain, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen averaged above 40 in the series. They were backed up by the spin pairing of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, who took 37 wickets between in the series.
This time, England’s top four is their Achilles heel, with the collapses in Chittagong to 21 for three in the first innings and 46 for four in the second almost costing them the game.

Cook is still there, of course, and in Joe Root England have another batsman whose quality is beyond question. But when both fail, it exposes the rest of a fragile top four.
Judgement must be reserved on Ben Duckett, who made scores of 14 and 15 opening against spin in his first Test.
However, Gary Ballance has no excuse. The Yorkshire batsman averages just 22 since coming back into the side last summer and, short on confidence following that fallow run, he needs a significant score from No4 in Dhaka to save his Test career. England cannot rely on the middle order runs of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow to bail them out as they did in Chittagong every time. India’s spinners will seize on any weaknesses during the five Tests that await, starting in Rajkot on November 9. And their batsmen, led by captain Virat Kohli, will also see the spin-bowling department as a significant weakness.

Moeen Ali was the best of England’s spinners in the opening Test. But neither him, Gareth Batty nor Adil Rashid will worry India. Zafar Ansari, who will make his Test debut in Dhaka, falls under the same category.
Yet England’s spinners can bowl better and at least head to India with confidence with an improved display.
That much is at least required given there are no warm-up matches between now and Rajkot. Dhaka will be England’s final dress rehearsal for a series that will see them not only face a team who are ranked No1 in the world but who have not lost a home Test since England won in Kolkata four years ago.
In between they have won 12 of 13 matches, whitewashing Australia 4-0, New Zealand 3-0 and West Indies 2-0. South Africa also lost 3-0 in India this time last year, with a washed out Test sparing them a whitewash. England will get no favours in India, who are determined to avenge their defeat of 2012.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan warned this week: “If they perform like they did against Bangladesh, it’ll be 5-0.”
Vaughan is not known for understatement but on this he might be right. Forget winning for now, England will need to improve significantly if they are to even compete in India. Those improvements must start tomorrow.

Piccadilly line drivers threaten walkout in run-up to Christmas

Staff reporter(wp/es):
Hundreds of Tube drivers on the Piccadilly line are threatening strike action in the run-up to Christmas.
Four hundred members of the RMT union will be balloted in the next few weeks over whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
The union said there had been a "wholesale breakdown" of industrial relations on the line, which serves Heathrow Airport.
RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: "Industrial relations on the Piccadilly line have been corroded through repeated failures to follow agreements, policies and procedures.
"It is those failures that have led to the wholesale breakdown in industrial relations which has triggered this ballot for action.

"RMT members on London Underground will not stand by while agreed policies that were put in place to maintain Tube safety are systematically ignored and undermined."
The union is also balloting 3,500 Tube station and other staff for strikes in a separate dispute over jobs and the closure of ticket offices.

In a separate dispute, drivers on Southern Railway will start voting next week on whether to strike over driver-only trains.
The ballots will close in mid-November, raising the threat of co-ordinated walkouts on the Tube and Southern.
RMT members on Southern will strike on November 4 and 5 in their long-running row with the company.

UK economy beats forecast with growth after Brexit vote

Staff reporter(wp/es):
revealed that Britain’s “resilient” economy grew faster than expected in the aftermath of the referendum. 
The nation’s GDP rose by 0.5 per cent in the three months from July to September, a slowdown from the 0.7 per cent in the previous quarter but far better than the 0.3 per cent forecast by the City.
The strong rise — driven by Britain’s surging services sector — makes it less likely that Britain will slip into “Brecession” and also reduces the chance of a further cut in interest rates from the Bank of England next month. However, some economists said that the true test of the impact of Brexit will not come until Article 50 is invoked next year.
Chancellor Philip Hammond welcomed the rise, saying: “The fundamentals of the UK economy are strong, and today’s data show that the economy is resilient. We are moving into a period of negotiations with the EU and we are determined to get the very best deal for households and businesses.”

It was the 15th consecutive quarter of growth for the economy, now 8.2 per cent bigger than the last GDP peak in early 2008 before the financial crash.
The data from the Office for National Statistics showed the services sector, which accounts for about 80 per cent of economic output, grew by 0.8 per cent. There was particularly strong growth from industries centred in and around London including film, video and TV programme production, sound recording, music publishing and computer programming.

However other parts of the economy did less well, with manufacturing down by one per cent and construction decreasing by 1.4 per cent.
Economists said the economy is likely to have been boosted by strong consumer spending over the summer but warned that rising inflation fuelled by rising import prices could snuff this out over the winter.
Nina Skero, managing economist at London forecaster the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said:  “As a weaker pound contributes to higher import prices and in turn a sharp rise in inflation, consumers will feel the squeeze. A slight rise in unemployment and lower consumer confidence will also encourage households to cut back on spending.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “These figures show there’s no room for complacency. British manufacturing is still struggling.”
John Hawksworth, chief economist at consulting giant PwC, said: “Overall, it looks like the economic impact of Brexit is more likely to be a gradual drag on growth over the next few years as negotiations with the EU proceed, rather than a short, sharp shock.”
Meanwhile, a Government minister warned that prices would rise after the sharp decline in the value of sterling — and that the public had been warned of this risk before the June 23 vote.
“Consumers are going to start to see rising prices and there’s nothing we can do about that,” said international trade minister Mark Garnier. “That was a well-predicted effect of Brexit.”