SAMIT’S FIT FOR
Patel vies with Ravi as Morgan pays price
EOIN MORGAN was put out of his misery by England yesterday when he was omitted from their Test squad for Sri Lanka and warned that he faces a long road back if he wants to play the ultimate game again.
Morgan became the first England batsman to be dropped from the Test side, with loyalty and continuity being watchwords of the Andy Flower regime, since Ravi Bopara during the 2009 Ashes.
Yet so bad has Morgan’s form been on the tour of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and so mentally shot did he look during the final Twenty20 game on Monday that it was a move England had to make.
The Irishman scored just 184 runs in 13 international innings against Pakistan and had a top score of 31 throughout the whole two-month tour as his struggles to establish himself as a Test batsman spilled over into his forte of limited-overs cricket. And he will be unable to force his way back into contention with first-class runs for Middlesex in the early part of the summer if he presses ahead, as seems certain, with his plans to spend April and possibly most of May playing lucrative Twenty20 cricket with Ko lkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League.
Flower, the England team director, accepts that his players want to cash in on the IPL but he never wastes an opportunity to remind them that it may not do their international aspirations any good.
‘Morgan has got some work to do on his Test game but I think that will be difficult for him considering the next cricket he plays will be in the IPL,’ said Flower. ‘ When he comes back he will have limited exposure to fourday cricket so he has to go away and give serious thought to his method in Test cricket. He has been severely tested by the Pakistan spinners here and has had a tough tour but I still think he has a very exciting future in Test cricket. ‘If he can get his game in order so that the next time he gets a Test chance he can grab it he will fulfil his career wishes and England will be a better team for it.’
It could be argued that if Morgan (left), at 25, really was serious about improving a Test record that has seen him score two centuries but average only 30 in 16 matches, then he should forget about the money in India and play in Middlesex’s first five Championship matches back in the f i rst division. Yet, equally, it is vital for England that he relocates his one-day mojo and if he finds form with Kolkata then that could be to Flower’s advantage when England defend their World Twenty20 title, also in Sri Lanka, in October.
For now it is Bopara who is most likely to benefit from Morgan’s absence in the two-test tour that begins in 10 days, even though he will have competition for the final batting place in the England side from Samit Patel.
The inclusion of the uncapped Patel is the biggest indication yet that he has convinced Flower of his dedication and that he can reach the fitness levels demanded of him by a highly professional regime.
Patel is a classy batsman and could offer England a decent fifth bowling option with his left-arm spin, and it is good that an individual talent whose face has often seemed not to fit with players and management appears to have been accepted at last. ‘The addition of Patel gives us the flexibility of playing three quicks, (Graeme) Swann and a left-arm spinning all-rounder or indeed he could be the fifth bowler in a two-and-two attack like we had here,’ said Flower. ‘He will be competing with Ravi at No 6.’
The biggest surprise i n the 16-man party was the inclusion of Kent off- spinner James Tredwell ahead of young spinning bucks like Danny Briggs, Scott Borthwick and Adil Rashid, but it is a pragmatic selection that gives England the security of an experienced operator who will provide cover for Swann.
Tredwell, 30, took six wickets on his only Test appearance against Bangladesh and was last seen performing commendably in the World Cup this time last year. He would let nobody down if called upon in Galle or Colombo.
‘I’m pretty sure Sri Lanka will provide spinning conditions for us and we think the off- spinning position is a very important one,’ said Flower. ‘Tredwell will be there in case Swann goes down with injury or illness but it is unlikely both will play.’
England’s biggest test will come again in their efforts against spin in the sub- continent and they signalled their intention not to get caught cold this time by confirming that seven of their players will fly to Colombo on March 5, five days ahead of the rest of the squad, for a training camp to combat spin.
Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Steven Davies, Patel, Matt Prior, Monty Panesar and Tredwell will all travel early under the supervision of new full- time batting coach Graham Gooch.
Their success against the slower men — and Sri Lanka post-murali do not provide the threat of Saeed Ajmal and Pakistan — will go a long way towards deciding whether England can hit back after their 3-0 thrashing here and preserve their status as the best Test team in the world.