Buzzin Cricket

Jonathan Agnew stated in one of his recent blogs that if Andrew Flintoff comes through Lancashire’s County Championship game with Hampshire –which starts today – then he will be playing in the second test against South Africa. The BBC pundit came to this conclusion after Andrew Flintoff netted with the England side ahead of the first test.

So, instead of a debate about whether he should be selected, it now seems that it is a case of – who will Andrew Flintoff replace? In my mind, there is no doubting that, if fit, Andrew Flintoff should play for England. His bowling has been especially missed and his batting appears to be showing signs of improvement recently. Overall, it seems difficult to leave him out.

Let’s presume he is fit for the second test match at Headingley and he is going to play. Who would be the man to miss out? Well, after scoring an impressive 75 not out yesterday, Ian Bell appears to have secured his place for now. The Warwickshire batsman shared a 192 run partnership with the majestic Kevin Pietersen – who finished unbeaten on 104 – to leave England 309-3 at the end of day one.

Ideally for England, if Andrew Flintoff is to return to the fold, he would do so batting at number six. This means that he would add to, rather than disrupt, the current bowling trio of Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. It would provide a great balance to the England side.

With this in mind, Paul Collingwood must have had a fairly restless evening. He knows that Andrew Flintoff is set to replace somebody and he knows that Ian Bell – who was the other England batsman under pressure – has performed admirably to all but secure his place. When Paul Collingwood walks to the crease later today, this won’t be too far from his thoughts. Talk about pressure. I’d put all my cricket betting money on the fact that the Durham batsman will be more nervous than ever when he walks out today.

Paul Collingwood needs to take it upon himself to make the selectors think twice before dropping him. He needs to get himself some runs and do all he can to keep his place in the side. I do wonder though, that secretly, the England selectors wouldn’t mind if Paul Collingwood failed to deliver in this test. It would certainly make there job much, much easier.

Something else that has been suggested is that Michael Vaughan’s poor batting form has gone rather unnoticed. He hasn’t exactly been getting many runs has he? In my opinion, his excellent captaincy warrants a place in the side on its own, but a century in the second innings at Lords wouldn’t go a miss.

England’s focus over the next four days though has to be winning this test match. They need to put selection issues to the back of their minds. If that means they win by an innings with each batsman getting some runs, then so be it. Andrew Flintoff will just have to wait his turn.