over.Five-match series might appeal more to a traditionalist, b

Valtteri Bottas says Williams has a big challenge on its hands if the team is going to beat Force India at this weekends United States Grand Prix.The Finn was sixth quickest and just 0.1s behind Nico Hulkenberg in the opening practice session, before Bottas and Williams teammate Felipe Massa fell outside the top 10 in the afternoon, over half a second slower than both Force India drivers.Force India definitively seems very competitive here, Bottas said. Its going to be a big challenge for us if we want to compete with them -- thats how it feels at the moment, but theres still a long weekend to go.Williams currently trails Force India by 10 points in the battle over fourth place in the constructors standings, and while the Grove-based team rarely shows its true pace on Fridays, Bottas conceded that Williams encountered balance issues in both sessions at the Circuit of the Americas.In the morning, with the soft compound, it was the best it was all day, by far, but in the afternoon the in-corner balance was not quite together, some entry issues, some snap oversteer in mid-corner and then understeer so we have some work to do.In the afternoon, as soon as we went out, we started to struggle with the balance of the car. I dont know, its difficult to say much because the wind direction is going to change completely for tomorrow so whatever we were doing today, things will be different tomorrow.A number of drivers struggled to stay on circuit in both sessions in Austin, including the likes of Renaults Jolyon Palmer who spun twice, and Toro Rossos Carlos Sainz, who ended FP2 going backwards in the gravel in the twisty first sector.When asked if track conditions were particularly difficult on Friday, Bottas replied: I think today was tricky with the wind. The first sector was good with the headwind but there was quite a bit of gusty tailwind and it was a bit of a problem.He added: But tomorrow its going to be different, the wind direction will change 180 degrees, so it will make a difference in terms of balance and how the car feels, so whatever we do with the set-up it will be tricky tomorrow. 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The list of Desmonds in Test cricket is short but, with over 7500 runs between them, still rather splendid.That can be said of another select, though rather different, list of Test Desmonds. For out of the 55 four-Test series to date, the England-Pakistan series was only the second occasion that the scoreline ended on two-all. The only other four-match 2-2, the 1999 Frank Worrell Trophy, was a famous battle for the ages, as the accelerating Australian juggernaut was held at bay by the eminence of Brian Lara.England-Pakistan bore a number of points of similarity with that series. Off-field selection debates over a strike bowler raged, with Australia omitting Shane Warne and England leaving out James Anderson, although both bowlers protested that they were fit to play. The way the results played out also ran along similar lines: the visitors batted first and won the first Test, only to comprehensively lose the second by a huge margin, thanks to a double-century by the oppositions star. The third Test of each series saw the visitors squander a first-innings lead of over a hundred runs on their way to losing the match in the final session; however, they emphatically levelled the series in the final encounter, with their legspinner collecting five wickets. Nevertheless, despite the echoes, England-Pakistan didnt quite scale the heights of its precursor, and doesnt merit the same level of wonder. Its many thrilling passages of play ensure, however, that it goes down as one of the best to grace these shores in recent years. Few would have demurred had a fifth Test been added. There were calls for a decider.Yet a decider - something of a misnomer, since the possibility of a draw means that there would have been no guarantee that it would decide anything - would have been quite unnecessary. The Desmond has a beauty and rarity all of its own. Leave them wanting more, as the famed entertainer PT Barnum is supposed to have said, perhaps apocryphally. Regardless of the author, it can still be viewed as one of the key rules of show business.The symmetry of a 2-2 is as beguiling as it is uncommon. If one includes five- and six-match series, there have still only been 11 Desmonds in 220 series: a one-in-twenty return. The only other example this millennium, thus far, is South Africas 2003 tour of England, notable for Makhaya Ntinis Lords ten-wicket haul. It has not been possible to veriffy whether the MCC member who lends his name to the colloquialism was present on this occasion; it would have been particularly appropriate, assuming he was correctly attired, of course.dddddddddddd There has only ever been one Ashes Desmond, Englands successful 1972 defence. Classic examples of the genre include the New Zealand tour to South Africa in 1961-62, which featured their first overseas Test wins. Back on Englands fields, there was the 1995 West Indies tour, an outstanding one for another Bishop (Ian, rather than arch), but a series perhaps most famous for Dominic Corks hat-trick. A mitre might have been a suitable award in the circumstances.It is certainly the case that Pakistans four-Test tour outshone all of Englands recent five-match series, including the three Ashes contests between 2013 and 2015. That also goes for Indias tour of 2014, wherein the visitors started brightly, being 1-0 up after two, but subsequently suffered three massive defeats, two being by an innings and one by 266 runs. Wisdom comes easily in hindsight, but in retrospect a four-match series would have been a better spectacle - especially when one considers that earlier in the year, Sri Lanka had only played two Tests, both of which went down to the last over.Five-match series might appeal more to a traditionalist, but outside Ashes tours, theres much to be said for making a pair of three- and four- Test series the default option during the English summer, as indeed will be the case in 2017 for the visits of South Africa and West Indies. Time, also, to dispense with the rarely satisfying two-match brace that so often is employed as an early-season warm-up. Sri Lankas aforementioned tour deserved an extra Test.While this flaw was rectified in their most recent visit, it was unfortunately after their two greatest batsmen had retired, meaning the spectacle was that much poorer and the competition that much weaker. New Zealands 2015 tour of England was a similar disappointment in duration, despite providing wonderful entertainment, and proving to be a much tighter battle than the Ashes that followed. Its possible to take PT Barnums maxim too far.On the other hand, although cricket would be blessed with more Desmonds, perhaps their rarity makes them something to cherish rather than covet. Surely the Archbishop would agree. ' ' '