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It speaks volumes about the state of transition in which the England
team finds itself that there is so much uncertainty about the make-up of
the Test squad to tour India.
After several years of continuity of selection and predictability,
England find themselves at the start of a partial rebuilding operation.
Tellingly, the England selectors put aside two days to pick the side and
have delayed the announcement of the tour party until September 18.
It is unlikely that Kevin Pietersen
will be included. Unlikely, but not impossible. Alastair Cook,
England's new Test captain, is understandably ambitious and knows full
well that his side's hopes of success in India are vastly reduced by
omitting Pietersen from his side. For that reason, several meetings have
been held with Pietersen over recent days as both sides seek a
resolution to a problem that, with a bit of common sense and humility,
should never have been allowed to reach this stage.
Had Pietersen apologised without caveat, he might have been selected.
But as soon as he expressed his lingering resentment over the parody
Twitter account, the spectre of more unrest within the dressing room was
raised. England will not risk that. If Pietersen is to come back into
the England fold, he must do so on the management's terms, not his.
Pietersen's future is now uncertain. Currently without a central
contract, he knows he can, as a free agent, commit to the whole 2013
season of the IPL. But he also knows that by doing so he risks
increasing the divide between him and England. If he plays the whole
season, he will not be available for all the Tests against New Zealand
at the start of next summer. Or, just as importantly, been seen to be
fighting to win back his place in county cricket. In the meantime, he
should be available for the Champions League Twenty20 and the Big Bash
League.
He will also be without a county from the end of this month. While
Surrey have expressed a desire to retain his services, they will be
waiting to see whether he is given another central contract before
committing. With Chris Tremlett, who was omitted from the central
contract list, already now added to their wage bill, the addition of
Pietersen would take Surrey perilously close to the salary cap.
There is a possibility - no more than that - that Pietersen will never make it back into the England team. Should Jonny Bairstow
or Eoin Morgan, whose award of a central contact virtually assures him a
place, seize their chance, or even look as if they are worthy of
longer-term investment, there will be no room for Pietersen's return.
The lines of communication remain open and the sense is of a thawing of
relationships, but Pietersen has risked ending his international career
with this episode. For a man who moved continents to pursue his dream,
who worked hard at his game for more than 20 years, who made endless
sacrifices and who should, right now, be at his peak, it seems an awful
waste.
England have a difficult enough job selecting a team to win in India
even without the Pietersen issue. Not since 1984-85 have they won a Test
series there and to do so with a side in transition and against a foe
anxious to avenge the whitewash in England in the summer of 2011, will
prove desperately demanding.
For a start, none of England's back-up spin options are ideal. Monty Panesar
remains a poor batsman and worse fielder; Samit Patel is not quite
strong enough with bat and nowhere near potent enough with ball to be
considered an allrounder and James Tredwell, for all his admirable
qualities with bat, ball and in the field, has the misfortune to be an
offspinner much like Graeme Swann. Doubts about Swann's elbow might
convince the selectors to include Tredwell, but Panesar, for the potency
of his bowling and the variation he offers, remains the likely
candidate. Patel, with his ability to bat at No. 7, may also win
inclusion as he did for Sri Lanka earlier this year.
There are no ideal options for the opening batsman position, either.
While Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, among others, could move up the
order, such a tactic would be moving a problem rather than solving one.
Few of the new options are perfect - Joe Root and Varun Chopra are a
little green; Michael Carberry has, perhaps unfairly, a dubious
reputation against spin and Nick Compton has scored his mountain of runs
this season at No. 3.
Chopra might be considered to have an advantage thanks to his reliable
slip catching and he scored heavily in Sri Lanka last winter but, on the
basis that he has been opening for the Lions, Root is seen as the next
in line. He is highly rated by Graham Thorpe, the lead batting coach for
the ECB, and is said to have improved markedly against spin over the
last 12 months. His offspin should not be relevant - he has claimed only
eight first-class wickets in his career - but he has the talent and the
time (he is only 21) to develop into the man who opens with Cook in the
Ashes.
That would mean no place for Compton, Carberry, Chopra or James Taylor.
It may well mean no place for Ravi Bopara, too, despite the fact that
his bowling would provide a valuable option. But the likelihood that
Bell will miss one Test on paternity leave and the need for some back-up
for a green opening batsman might persuade the selectors to include a
17th man. If so, the prolific Compton will be hard to overlook. Craig
Kieswetter, despite one poor ODI performance recently, may also have
moved in front of Steve Davies as reserve wicketkeeper and is an
improving batsman against spin, even if his keeping standing up remains a
work in progress.
More replacements will be available as required from the England Lions
squad. The Lions also tour India this winter, though the first two Tests
of the main series will probably have been played before their arrival.
All that still leaves England with one substantial problem. Their slip
catching has been poor over the last six months - it may well have cost
them the series against South Africa and, as a consequence their No.1
Test ranking - and it is far from obvious who might be pressed into
service in the cordon on this tour.
One solution might be to recall Rikki Clarke, who now offers pace and
control with the ball, reliability with the bat and the best pair of
hands in county cricket, in place of Tim Bresnan who, since his elbow
operation, has struggled to recover his nip with the ball. Sadly Clarke,
like Pietersen and Panesar, is not seen as quite the sort of fellow
that would fit into the increasingly homogenized England dressing room.
At some stage, though, if England keep losing, that narrow thinking may
be challenged.
Possible squad Alastair Cook (capt), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott,
Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Craig Kieswetter
(wkt), Matt Prior (wkt), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James
Anderson, Monty Panesar, Steven Finn, Graham Onions
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: George Dobell
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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