More difficult to spin is the reality of team selection. England admitted that the third Test draw felt like a defeat and now the engine room has gone kaput, Andrew Flintoff ruled out with a hip problem and Matt Prior playing peek-a-book in a Hove-area BUPA. Andrew Strauss must therefore choose between six batsmen or five bowlers for a Test he's desperate to win on a green, bouncy track prepared to help fast bowlers.
Given the pitch reports and England's conservative selection there can only be one serious option. Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara are head-to-head for Flintoff's spot with the decision likely hanging on a selector's hunch. Both scored runs against the BCA President's XI, Bopara a century and Bell 72, but the opposition was marginal. The question is whether they want to shake things up with the volatile Bopara or stick with the devil they know in Bell. The opportunities afforded to the Warwickshire batsman in that tour match suggest he has the advantage.
Tim Ambrose is restored to wicketkeeping duty. The Warwickshire man first took over from Prior in 2008 after 10 Tests and played 10 himself before losing the gloves in India. Prior had re-established himself since Chennai, batting well and cutting out the costly drops so Ambrose will have to do something special to keep his place. We might even argue that this is a missed opportunity to blood a serious rival to the incumbent.
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