Derek Pringle ponders the reasoning behind the dropping of a young England bat after just two Tests

Was it a resurrection of the old ‘horses for courses’ policy that saw Moeen Ali picked in place of Ollie Pope for the fourth Test against India, or did England lose heart in the face of India’s resurrection in a series where the visitors have suddenly sprung dangerously into life? Tailoring players to suit certain opponents or conditions is big in the world of meta-data now being applied to sport. What used to be called ‘horses for courses’ is probably now ...