England announced their 15 man squad for the India tour, with Kevin Pietersen captaining the team, and Alistair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Tim Ambrose, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Monty Panesar, Ryan Sidebottom, Owais Shah and Graeme Swann being called up into the side.
Yet as with all selections, there are winners and losers, and some of the selections could and perhaps should be queried, while others raise questions over some of the candidates for selections chances of playing international cricket for the foreseeable future.
Firstly, the non-selection of Michael Vaughan, is a public admission by the management of his lack of form. Vaughan, fresh from being given a central contract has been desperately short of form and while he now has plenty of time to sort his game out, at 34 and with such a poor injury record the jury must be out over whether is time may have passed.
In terms of replacement, Owais Shah appears to be the obvious one, and after so long being ignored in terms of a Test place following his brilliant breakthrough appearance in Pakistan. Ravi Bopara, after a wonderful season with Essex can consider himself unlucky, yet perhaps he still has to wait a little longer after failing as yet to convince at the highest level both in the tests in Sri Lanka and the ODI's against New Zealand.
Secondly, the selection of Matt Prior is just reward for his resurgence following his disastrous tour in Sri Lanka, while Prior has seemingly pushed on, his selection also highlights the regression of Tim Ambrose. After a century on debut, and some polished keeping, he has scored little since and his batting technique has been exposed, while his keeping has become error-prone whereas once it was smooth and efficient.
- B/R Ticket Guide
In selecting Ambrose, the selectors have ignored some of the increasingly vociferous claims from a number of keepers emerging to challenge. Certainly James Foster, who enjoyed a wonderful season both behind the stumps and with the bat will be extremely disappointed, especially to miss out on the ECB performance squad for the Winter. Also Steven Davies, who enjoyed a good season, especially with the bat in Pro40 Cricket can count himself unlucky.
While Phil Mustard, fresh from success with Durham must be beginning to consider his short stint as One Day keeper where he impressed many with his keeping and batting in New Zealand could well be his only chance at international level.
Finally, in selecting Graeme Swann, the selectors have gone for a player for whom they know plenty about, and a player who offers more in his batting and fielding than Monty Panesar yet is perhaps not going to threaten as much with his bowling as a Panesar.
It is interesting to note that they chose not to take Samit Patel, a player who impressed many during the ODI series against South Africa, and took Swann’s place as main spinner in the One Day team, yet perhaps they feel his bowling is not quite up to Test Match standard.
Yet perhaps the most disappointing non-selection with regard to spin bowling was that of Adil Rashid. A player for whom a bright future has long been foretold, and certainly this was a summer which delivered much, with his bowling he claimed the second highest number of wickets in country cricket with 65 scalps and in his bowling, where he scored a century in Yorkshire’s last match.
His future is believed to be bright, yet debate rages about whether this is a winter too early, but surely playing against the best players would help aid the development of one of English cricket’s bright young prospects, much like playing India last time helped launch Monty Panesar into the England team, perhaps this tour could have helped launch Adil Rashid's international career, as well as provided Panesar with real competition after a noticeable dip in his progression as a world class spinner.
In terms of team, I think the selectors have got the nucleus of the team right, retaining most of the nucleus of the successful One Day team was important, and hopefully they will manage to succeed in playing the same, good aggressive cricket in India, though conditions should make that task difficult.
However, in both the wicket-keeping and spin departments one must feel they have opted for safety-first. Selecting Prior is a good sign, yet in picking Ambrose they have perhaps missed a chance to blood say Foster or Davies whom could both perform well at international level.
While Swann's selection, over either Patel or in particular Rashid could be questioned, especially as Rashid is potentially the best English spinner behind Panesar, though Swann's all-round contributions could be important.
So what do you think? Have the selectors got it right? Or should they have opted for youth over experience? Should Michael Vaughan have been selected? And should two keepers have been needed? And have they picked the right ones anyway?
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