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By Scott Heinrich
BBC Sport at Dorridge Cricket Club
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It's a gusty autumn day in the West Midlands, and warm-up
games don't come much chillier than this.
Famous names adorn the Dorridge CC score
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Dorridge Cricket Club is a world removed from what awaits India
when they face Pakistan in the Champions Trophy at Edgbaston on
Sunday.
But this humble, overtly English setting is where they find
themselves as they fine-tune their considerable skills against 11
club cricketers cobbled together at short notice.
India expected to play an ECB XI, but discover on arrival at the
ground that their opponents are instead a collection of local
players of significantly inferior quality.
"It's nice here, but it's not the best preparation the Pakistan
game. We didn't know we were going to be playing this kind of side,"
off-spinner Harbhajan Singh tells BBC Sport.
The show must go on nevertheless, and India's stand-in skipper
Rahul Dravid thinks batting first is a good idea.
"Hopefully it will be some good practice for the batters,"
Harbhajan adds.
India's highly paid professionals sit on plastic chairs in the
'visitors' area and watch their team-mates bat, cordoned-off by
plastic tape from a huddle of gawping fans drinking tea and beer.
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You've got to get the ball in the right place to
these sort of guys _files/end_quote.gif)
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It may be all too bewildering for the players, demi-gods in their
cricket-mad homeland, but for the good people of Dorridge it is an
occasion to savour.
After all, it isn't every day an international cricket team comes
to town.
"This is definitely a first," says club president Martin Ward,
who is doubling up on public address duties.
"It's a great honour. We're very pleased to have India here and
we're all having a good time.
"These players might not be in the same league as India, but to
be on the same ground is something they won't forget in a hurry."
Unfortunately, no Dorridge players made the side, but Ward says
this is unsurprising as the first XI have had an ordinary year in
the Birmingham & District Premier League.
Out in the middle, India are happily piling on the runs.
Out-of-form opener Virender Sehwag blows away some cobwebs with
59 before holing out at mid-on, while Dravid, in the finest village
cricket tradition, retires himself on 68.
There is no joy, however, for Yuvraj Singh, who strokes four
singles before falling caught behind to wily Smethwick seamer Andy
Bryan.
"Any international wicket is tremendous, and Yuvraj is a quality
player," Bryan says.
"You've got to get the ball in the right place to these sort of
guys, because if you give them any length or width they put you
away.
India's players wait their turn at the boundary
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"I was pleased with the one that got Yuvraj. It did a bit and
nipped away from him. It will be something to tell the grandkids
about."
But before scouts start noting the name, Ward steps in with a
dose of reality.
"It was only two weeks ago that one of our 17-year-old players at
Dorridge scored 120 off Andy Bryan," he laughs.
"So he's gone from being merrily murdered by a teenager one week
to getting Yuvraj Singh out the next."
Over at the flipboard scoreboard, local lad Matthew is working
overtime as India throw the bat at the death and lose a few wickets
in the process.
"Who's this coming in at 10?" the youngster asks as he squints at
the figure in the distance.
It turns out to be Mohammad Kaif.
"Kaif? They can't be taking this game too seriously."
Maybe not, but just by being here India have provided the sleepy
town of Dorridge with memories to last for many summers to come.