Pressing concerns for England’s selectors

The England management team have some very difficult selection decisions to make ahead of Friday’s first Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong. Graham Onions is definitely not fit for selection as his injury problems have not subsided sufficiently and this is the main area of debate around the squad at present – who should replace him in the bowling attack? The other main area of concern is at the top of the batting order – who should replace the absent captain Andrew Strauss as stand-in captain Alastair Cook’s partner?

Middlesex's Steven Finn could well be in line for a Test debut for England

The issue surrounding the bowling line-up depends upon how many bowlers England start with. During the recent tour of South Africa they fielded only four specialist bowlers. This was never a ploy that I was comfortable with since it left them short during those long and gruelling sessions in the South African sun when the pitch wasn’t offering much in the way of assistance. Should England stick with a four man attack the participants would most likely be Stuart Broad, James Tredwell, Graham Swann and Tim Bresnan.

Bresnan moved himself up the pecking order with some solid displays in the ODI series and some good bowling in the recent three day warm-up fixture against Bangladesh A. He also has the plus point of recent experience in the England Test team against West Indies at the start of the last English summer. Liam Plunkett has been inconsistent on this tour so far and seems unlikely to feature.

Should England go with a five man attack, however, then the selection becomes very interesting. With two spinners all but guaranteed to start, England will most likely need the support of three seamers. This would mean a debut for either Ajmal Shahzad or Steven Finn. Finn has impressed greatly since arriving here as emergency cover for Broad and Onions following the departure of Ryan Sidebottom from the tour, and posses great pace and bounce in his bowling. He was extremely economical in the recent warm-up fixture and must fancy his chances of earning a first Test cap that would have seemed so unlikely to him a couple of weeks ago. Shahzad offers the better option with the bat, but if the batsmen do their job as they should then the confidence must be placed in Finn.

In the absence of Strauss Michael Carberry has been called up. The Hampshire opener endured a torrid time against Bangladesh A and his place looks far from certain. Jonathan Trott is another who is comfortable opening the innings and his century at the weekend highlights a return to form from the Warwickshire man. If Trott opens then there is a vacant slot at the problem number three position which will most likely be filled by Ian Bell – a man who has hardly excelled in that position in the past.

I would expect England to go with a five man attack which means that one of the batsmen will have to move out. On this occasion I feel that Carberry will be the one omitted and that Trott will open with Cook, Bell to come in at three. As such, I think the England starting XI for the first Test on Friday will be:

1. Jonathan Trott
2. Alastair Cook
3. Ian Bell
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Paul Collingwood
6. Matt Prior
7. Staurt Broad
8. Tim Bresnan
9. Graham Swann
10. James Tredwell
11. Steven Finn

I would personally play Swann at seven, but I believe that England will go with Broad in this position and Brsenan at eight. It would make a very strong lower-order for England as Tredwell is no ‘bunny’ with the bat either.

If Strauss were here to lead his team, as I firmly believe he should be, it would have been very interesting to see which batsman was moved out of the side. Would KP’s place have been in serious jeopardy or would it have been a straight selection between Trott and Bell? We’ll never know…

By Miles Reucroft

March 10, 2010