England short of options, with just six certainties for Boxing Day Test

THE tourists, dealing with a dwindling squad and facing questions of team unity, have just six certainties for the Boxing Day Test.

England skipper Alastair Cook and coach Andy Flower face a battle to assemble a fit squad for the Boxing Day Test. Picture: W...

IN hindsight, the Boxing Day Test match three years ago might be seen as the high watermark of the team created by Andy Flower.

On Boxing Day itself, English cricket supporters could scarcely believe their eyes as Australia were humbled for 98, England reached 0-157 in reply. With Australian hordes deserting the MCG long before the finish, it was a day to remember.

Andrew Strauss's touring team enjoyed the smoothest of passages throughout that Australia tour. For Alastair Cook, the seas could not be stormier as a sense of crisis has enveloped the team in the wake of the retirement of Graeme Swann. A more apt comparison would be the 2006-07 Boxing Day Test, in which Australia, rampant after reclaiming the Ashes in Perth, went into full gloating mode with the impending retirements of a number of greats.

Australia were intent on a whitewash then, much as they are now.

The line out of the Australia dressing room this week is that the 10-Test series is effectively 3-3; they would like to win it 5-3 and emulate Ricky Ponting's team by whitewashing England. Not for the first time on this tour they smell fear and weakness in England's ranks, and they are unlikely to give a helping hand.

For all that a player has a right to retire when and where he wishes (this is one of the few decisions in a career that he has total control over) it is undeniable that Swann's retirement has done Cook few favours. When asked whether the axe would have fallen on the off spinner, the captain demurred, but Swann's retirement and the assumptions made about his retirement press conference added to Cook's workload and the sense of crisis surrounding the team.

Not that Cook sounded unduly stressed. Outwardly, he is remarkably phlegmatic and was readily willing to heap praise on a man who has been an integral part of England's recent successes. "Obviously, it is a huge decision to make," Cook said.

"Knowing you are never going to pull on an England shirt again must be quite a scary feeling, especially when you make that decision yourself. I think it is a very brave decision for him to do it now in terms of what he is giving up and everything that goes with playing for England, but I think he knows deep down he had no more to give. He is going to be missed hugely.

"When you talked to him you could see in his eyes that he'd had enough. I think it made it an easy decision for him to make. Speaking to old players about when to retire, they say, 'When you know, you know.' And speaking to Swanny over the last couple of days, he just knew this was the time. There was no point hanging on for a couple of games. He'd given his all in the England shirt and can be very proud of his achievements."

Cook was swift to pour oil on any troubled waters, recognising the assumptions that were made. "Swanny has made it very clear to the lads that he didn't mean any England player," Cook said of the comments that appeared in some quarters yesterday.

It is hard to see to where Cook can turn to in the immediate term as he looks to the post-Swann future. He played his joker early, in Adelaide, demanding that his senior players rally round. The response has been underwhelming: Swann has left the tour; another, Stuart Broad, continues to hobble around and is far from fully fit and unsure whether he will recover in time for Boxing Day; a third, Matt Prior, is fighting for his Test future; and others are out of form. That is a tough predicament for any captain.

First things first, England have to come up with a team. The certainties are these: Cook, Joe Root, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes and James Anderson. In a snapshot, that is the hole England find themselves in, with six certainties, one of whom came into the team only by accident, three of whom are out of form. Additionally, those likely to play include Michael Carberry, Tim Bresnan (the MCG was seen as a perfect fit for him last time) and, in the absence of Swann, Monty Panesar.

Broad takes care of himself. If he is fit, he plays; if he is 90 per cent fit, he should play. If he is nowhere near fit, it would make sense to give Boyd Rankin a debut. Steven Finn remains a work in progress and the management have little faith in him; Chris Tremlett would be reliable, as he was in Brisbane, but carries little upside for the future. Why not Rankin now, if Broad remains unfit?

The biggest decision concerns Prior. Swann's retirement may have marginally improved his chances of keeping his place because Flower has said that he is not keen on simply throwing an experimental team to the wolves. Equally, he did look shot in Perth, and for the first time his wicketkeeping began to be affected by his struggles more generally. The contrast with Brad Haddin, who is in the form of his life for Australia, was not a pretty one.

Haddin has shown that no one should be written off too soon, and Prior has a large amount of credit in the bank after three wonderful years as a swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman. England's selectors seem to be more keen on Jos Buttler as a long-term wicketkeeper than Jonny Bairstow, even though Bairstow is here as first reserve. Two matches now would give them an insight into Bairstow's capabilities with the gloves.

In Perth, Stokes showed what a fresh mind and an approach unencumbered by failure can do, and it is his example above all that will inform England's policy as they move forward beyond this tired and beaten team. How quickly that change comes remains to be seen, but change will come and by the next Ashes series, in 2015, this England team will look very different indeed.

The Times