The first salvo..

It is fair to say that the English media does not do idolatry quite so often. Pietersen's charisma can be a little too arty, and it caused a stir when he practised a reverse sweep in the nets and sent a ball careering towards the Indians, who were practising 40 yards away. A retaliatory ball flew back into England's half and the tour had its first flashpoint. Peter Moores, England's coach, suggested to his opposite number, Gary Kirsten, that a truce should be called. Pietersen's cry of innocence brought a chuckle. "I was batting at the time," he said. Well, yes, quite.

The Guardian
---

And tempers briefly flared yesterday morning when the two squads met for the first time as they trained simultaneously at the ground. Flintoff's minor confrontation arose because India's batsmen hit numerous balls from their practice area into the region where Kevin Pietersen's side were working. Each shot was followed by the courtesy call of "heads" or "watch out", but this did not prevent England's players from having to take evasive action.

The ground's logistics meant that it was inevitable the occasional ball would travel from one area to another, especially in the build-up to a limited over match when players practise big hits over the leg side, and a couple of Pietersen "switch hits" sent the Indians scurrying. It would be wrong to say the Indian batsmen were doing it intentionally, but sporting teams have been known deliberately to invade the space designated to the opposition before the start of a match in an attempt to antagonise them.

After an hour of ducking for cover every three or four minutes England had finally had enough and Flintoff, in full batting kit and with his bat waving, marched over towards the Indian team to complain. It was here he met Prasad, pointing angrily with his bat.

The Independent

---

If that was a puerile prank that backfired (India went on to win the series 2-1) there was no sugar coating to Thursday’s set-to, which saw tempers rise after cricket balls were struck into each others net areas.

England, probably because they were ideally situated at cow corner for India’s right-handers, came under the greatest bombardment and were the first to react when Andrew Flintoff marched over to upbraid India’s bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad.

Flintoff had been waiting to bat when another mighty slog from India’s nets scattered those waiting to bowl to Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah.

It probably wasn’t deliberate on India's part, but some fairly robust language was obviously used by Flintoff, for England’s players stopped to watch as Big Freddie strode over to Prasad gesticulating with his bat as to how close the ball had come to hitting someone.

The Telegraph

---

England and India, with a history of spats in their recent meetings, did not even wait for the one-day series to start before falling out again. The touring side were roused this time when India batsmen struck balls into England's practice area during final preparation for the game in Rajkot this morning.

Andrew Flintoff, in his pads, strode more than 50metres to complain to Venkatesh Prasad, the India bowling coach, after one shot narrowly missed Andy Flower, the England batting coach, who was concentrating on his team's nets. As he confronted Prasad, the all-rounder brandished his bat in the direction of the stroke to reinforce the point.

Minutes later, Peter Moores, the England head coach, followed a similar path to warn Gary Kirsten, his opposite number, that somebody could be seriously hurt if the India batsmen continued to swing at full power in the same area. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain, was among those who had hit expansively.

The Times

--

4 newspapers. 4 reports of the same incident. Each more dramatic than the other.

If this continues to be the trend, we are in for an enjoyable 5 weeks of newspaper reportage :).

PS:- I particularly enjoyed India bombarding the Poms with cricket balls imagery..

Welcome to India!