Although we lost the series, there were some encouraging individual performances from players who are new to test cricket and we are keen to continue their development. |
Darren asked the selectors not to consider him for the tour of Pakistan for personal reasons and we respected his wishes. With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan and Simon Jones now available for selection again, the selectors feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible ahead of the World Cup. |
Darren would like to make it clear that he has not decided to retire from one-day international cricket and the selectors fully understand his reasons. |
He is a very good spinner. He gives the ball a good twist and has a very bright future. |
He's a young guy who's got plenty of talent. There's no doubt that off spinners have got to do something different. |
His figures may not always look as good as some of the other spinners around the world but he fulfils a crucial role in our attack. |
How we're going to manage the players through all this is something we're going to have to talk about. We have to make sure that our key guys like Freddie are fit and raring to go for the Australia and World Cup legs. |
I don't know what the situation is with the Australian team but they seem pretty settled. In the same way that there were plenty saying last summer that they did not want to be in the side that loses the Ashes, there'll be more wanting to be in the team that regains them. We are under no illusion about how determined Australia will be. |
I hope Michael does get in. We have no input into it but I was disappointed Duncan Fletcher missed out as he is coach of the second-best side in the world. |
Ian Blackwell has been placed on standby to join the Test squad if Ashley fails to recover from his injury in time prior to the tour. |
Ian Blackwell is a talented player who performed well in the one-day series in Pakistan and this is a terrific opportunity for him to show that he can fulfil his potential against top class opposition. |
If he cannot tour it would be a big loss to us. But that is sport. |
In choosing our Test squad we wanted to show faith with the same group of players who have performed extremely well for England over the past two years. Although we lost the series, there were some encouraging individual performances from players who are new to Test cricket and we are keen to continue their development. |
It is going to be hard to win four games in a row. |
It is hugely to his credit that he took the initiative in approaching the selectors before Christmas to discuss how he could improve all aspects of his game and we are delighted with the progress he has made following his recent trip to Adelaide. |