One Day Options

With the final test about to start, it's time to start thinking of the shorter game. The World Cup disappointment and the fact that the West Indies are also rebuilding means that this is the ideal opportunity to begin building a new One Day team. Here are the options and my team to take the national team forward.

Wicket Keeper
Lets start with the easy one and the one position where we are choosing from strength. Paul Nixon had a very good World Cup, but Matt Prior has announced himself onto the world scene, is 12 years younger and may even get in on his batting alone. In the wings we have Tim Ambrose, James Foster and Chris Read (amongst others) , but at the moment Prior is well ahead of the pack and I'd have him opening the batting.

Batting
England's problem at the World Cup was the number of accumulators at the top of the innings, and with Ali Cook also being mentioned, it is time to move away from test batsmen playing ODIs.

Only one of Vaughan, Bell, Strauss, Joyce and Cook should play, as an opening batsman. For this series, this comes down to a straight choice between Bell and Cook. Marcus Trescothick hasn't been considered.

Of the five middle order batsmen we need, three are clear cut choices, with Pietersen, Collingwood and Bopara being our best three batsmen in the World Cup. This leaves two spaces, as Collingwood and Bopara constitute the fifth bowler.

To my mind, in the frame should be Owais Shah, Vikram Solanki, James Hildreth, James Benning, Alex Gidman. Of those, Benning is not in great form at the moment, but his time should come later. The other four should all make the squad and given an opportunity. However, my first two choices will be two who have been tried before - Shah and Solanki. Both are in great form and both will benefit from a more consistent selection policy.

Bowlers
Four bowlers are required. With Flintoff (who should be considered to be a bowler) injured, then Jimmy Anderson is our best One Day bowler. Sharing the new ball with him should be Simon Jones. None of the other pace bowlers used in the World Cup were able to control the white ball and should be left to the test arena.

One of the big surprises of the World Cup was how ineffective Monty Panesar was, and Michael Vaughan was our most effective spin bowler. In the short version of the game, Ian Blackwell was improving his control and I would have him into the team instead of Monty.

For the final bowler, who would normally be Flintoff, I have three options, all of whom offer something with the bat as well as the ball. Rikki Clarke and Jamie Dalrymple have had extended runs in the team, but are both still young and should not be discounted. However, I would give Tim Bresnan another run beginning against slightly more friendly opposition than Sri Lanka last year. He has been solid with bat and ball this season, scoringhis maiden first class hundred, and his bowling pace has increased.

Captain
The Australian adage is pick the team then the captain. Vikram Solanki has had a couple of years captaining Worcester now, taking them to an unlikely promotion last season. While Collingwood has his supporters, he has little captaincy experience and should continue to be a key leader on the field rather than the team captain.

Therefore, my team for the ODI series

Prior
Bell
Solanki (c)
Pietersen
Shah
Collingwood
Bopara
Bresnan
Blackwell
Jones
Anderson

With Rikki Clarke, James Hildreth, Alex Gidman and Graham Onions making up the 15 man squad