What do you make of the decision to rest Andrew Strauss and hand Alastair Cook the captaincy?
It is certainly not without controversy but there are two main points to discuss here. The first is that Strauss should not be having a rest. He has only been in the job for a year, he does not play Twenty20 cricket and plays very little for Middlesex, and it is not as though he has been out in the middle for hour after hour in South Africa.
Everyone else is going bar James Anderson, who has a fitness issue, so I don’t see why Strauss isn’t. He’d be my captain for the tour of Bangladesh.
Alastair Cook is a fine young player but he has yet to show anything that would indicate he is the right man to captain England in the future. You have to remember that only three matches ago he was playing to keep his place in the team so how the added burden of leadership will sit with him I don’t know.
Until someone has a go, you never really know whether they are the right man for the job. England’s problem at the moment is if not Strauss, then who? They have tried Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen, which is another reason why Strauss should go on this tour.
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Is the role of England captain so taxing that it should stop you from doing your job in successive tours?
It is a taxing job but that is part of it - you know that when you take it on. Captaining your country is a demanding job but it is also an honour. I can’t imagine Ricky Ponting or Graeme Smith just handing over the captaincy for a tour to have a rest. They go on every tour, unless they are injured, and they do the job that they are paid to do.
Whose idea will this have been? Strauss’s or the ECB’s?
If he said to the ECB, “I want to go”, then he would be going. Now whether the ECB have asked him if he wanted a rest and he has said yes, or he has gone to them with the idea, I don’t know. The bottom line is, if he wanted to go as captain, he would be going.
What do you make of the inclusion of Michael Carberry?
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Given Strauss’s absence, England need a solid opening batsman and Carberry is the next man in line. He has been a part of the squad on tour in South Africa, he had a good domestic season for Hampshire and he is obviously a good player. The only drawback is that he is not the most flamboyant of players so it might get a bit stodgy with him and Cook at the top of the order.
Ajmal Shahzad is the real surprise inclusion. What do you know about him?
Very little. They selectors needed someone to replace Anderson and they have clearly liked what they have seen.
What about James Tredwell’s call-up in favour of Adil Rashid?
The selectors have been following Tredwell for a while now but his selection means England have two off spinners and that is not ideal. By all accounts Tredwell has really impressed in the nets and has looked dangerous, but from a captain’s perspective it leaves England short of variety.
Adil Rashid’s immediate prospects look a little bleak now. The selectors appear to have lost patience with him because he has not developed at the speed which they would have wanted.
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It is a shame because they have invested a lot of time in him. He has traipsed around on tour with England for the past two winters but he hasn’t been given an opportunity. It is a shame because a leg-spinner, even if he is developing, can be a real asset.