Broad ponders dilemma (From The Northern Echo)

Broad ponders dilemma

8:00am Thursday 23rd February 2012 in Sport

England are grappling with how to tweak a winning team as they move on from their unexpected one-day international whitewash of Pakistan back to one of their specialist subjects today.

After the world number ones' 3-0 Test series humbling here, few expected England to return the favour with a 4-0 ODI trouncing of their hosts.

Usual rules may therefore have to be discarded when it comes to assessing their prospects in three Twenty20 matches, given that - in contrast to their relatively lowly ODI ranking - they are not only top of the pile in the sprint format but world champions too.

How to staff the first match has become a thornier logic problem, with the absence of ODI and Test number three Jonathan Trott - not picked in Twenty20 squads these days - the only certainty.

The toughest conundrum revolves around whether to accommodate Alastair Cook's Twenty20 ambitions in Stuart Broad's team on the back of the ODI captain's prolific run of form at the top of the order in the 50-over game.

Cook has already confounded those who insisted he could not transport his Test match skills to ODIs, and has left no one in any doubt about his wish to try his luck at Twenty20 too.

For Broad it is a choice between one of his fellow England captains and his young county team-mate and Twenty20 incumbent opener Alex Hales.

There were few clues at yesterday's press conference that Broad - or coach Andy Flower - were close yet to making a call which can wait if necessary until today.

"Cooky is keen to play Twenty20 cricket. He's made that pretty obvious," said Broad, whose hand is being forced after the opener was added to the squad last night because of the back injury which ruled Ravi Bopara out of England's last ODI win.

Bopara, unlike Cook who took the option of a day's rest, went through his paces with bat and ball and appeared to move fine at practice yesterday afternoon.

Broad added: "He's been kept on in the squad, because obviously we've got some injury concerns - and you can't go into a series with only one spare batsman, because if someone breaks a finger in the nets you look a bit silly.

"So it was very easy for Cooky to stay on for an extra three or four days to cover the squad, and we can obviously have a look at him in the Twenty20 format."

England (from): SCJ Broad (Captain), C Kieswetter (wkt), AD Hales, KP Pietersen, EJG Morgan, RS Bopara, JC Buttler, SR Patel, TT Bresnan, GP Swann, ST Finn, JW Dernbach, AN Cook, JM Bairstow, DR Briggs, JM Anderson.

Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul-Haq (Captain), M Hafeez, S Malik, A Shafiq, S Afridi, U Akmal, A Akmal (wkt), S Ajmal, A Rehman, U Gul, J Khan, A Cheema, W Riaz, H Azam, I Farhat, A Zia.