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James Anderson: India open with spin and we could do the same with Graeme Swann

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India had no qualms about opening the bowling with spin - and while I'm not saying we should automatically follow their lead, when you play cricket here you have to be open to all suggestions.

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So, if the conditions warrant it and the captain and management feel it to be right, I don't see any reason why Graeme Swann shouldn't take the new ball.

Some spinners feel the lacquer on a new cherry makes it hard to grip, and I don't think Swanny is a massive fan.

But as our batsmen have been practising in the nets against spinners using the new ball, so Graeme has been sending down overs with the new ball against them to make sure he is ready should the question be asked.

To be fair, he bowled quite early on in India's first innings, and when we took the new ball he had a go as early as the fifth over with it, so the ball would not have altered that much in that short space of time.

I'm sure he'd have a go happily if it was what the team needed.

He has been fantastic in this match, possibly bowling as well as I've ever seen.

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Swann's way: but could he open the bowling?

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Against batsmen for whom playing spin is second nature, not only did he manage to take five wickets, but four of them were clean bowled. All that and Sachin Tendulkar's wicket, too.

There wasn't a great deal of turn on day one but he bowled some fantastic deliveries, built pressure all day and never let anyone get on top of him.

He's not much of a stat-cruncher, but to have passed the great Jim Laker's record of 193 Test wickets to become the most successful England off-spinner was a huge achievement.

We were all aware that he needed two first-innings wickets to do it and when he did you could see how much it meant, especially after he'd had to make the round trip home to be with his wife and daughter.

As his tour 'husband', I decided we should celebrate that evening with a romantic room service meal.

Swanny had chicken tikka and I plumped for the traditional Indian speciality of spag bol. As Alastair Cook said, it's all about embracing the local culture.

Compton by name ... let's give him time

Nick Compton has impressed us all with how quickly he has learned to bat in conditions as different to his usual Taunton as the surface of the Moon.

We know all about his patience and that he loves to occupy the crease, but he has not opened much in the past, so doing it out here is a big ask.

Although he played in a couple of warm-up games they cannot compare to the intensity of Test cricket, the crowds or the standard of the opposition. It can be a shock when you get out in the middle.

It's been good to see how eager he is to listen to advice and how keen he is to ask for it.

When you see that in a new player, it makes you think he is ready and willing to try to improve, and that almost always means he will.

I think he has dealt with it all brilliantly so far, but we'll probably let him settle into the team a bit more before we put him under pressure by calling him 'Denis'.

I've had good days as nightwatchman

Loads of chat about the role of nightwatchman after my less than successful effort in the first innings.

It wasn't the best start to my career as a specialist No 3 batsman as after I got out, we then lost another wicket.

But people forget how successful we have been in employing a nightwatchman in the past.

The nightwatch: James Anderson in action against South Africa

I'm not blowing my own trumpet, but against South Africa at Headingley in 2008 I went in at 50-2 to try to see out the final session with Alastair Cook and when I was out next day we were 109-3 and I had made 34.

On our last tour here, in the Test in Chennai, I went in at 221-5 and made 19 from 82 balls before getting out at 271-7 and we went on to take a first-innings lead.

One failure doesn't make the nightwatchman a flawed tactic.

  More... England show fighting spirit but still face uphill struggle after spin assault India's DRS stance backfires on Dhoni as umpire errors mar opening test After that, Bell can take as much paternity leave as he wants


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