They wanted to take seven batsmen - which meant Hick or Crawley, not both. Then there is an all-rounder, a spare wicketkeeper, two slow bowlers and six faster ones.

Yes, seventeen, thus granting a slot to a young-and-hopeful quick with the promise of him becoming a handy quick overnight. Fine, good plan. England should take at least one properly-promising new boy to the big school of the game. But they cannot possibly take 18 players; some blighter wouldn't get a game. So what do they do?

They could dump the all-rounder, who presumably will be Ben Hollioake, and justify eight specialist batsmen on the evidence of Michael Atherton's unpredictable back.

This would leave Crawley as the reserve opener, which he is not. Crawley is ideal in the middle order, a jolly good player of spin and a successful shepherd of the tail. Shane Warne thinks something of him, which is no bad thing, and so now, one imagines, does Muttiah Muralitharan. Goodness, he batted well against Murali, defending with pad, milking with wristy deflections and attacking with the conviction born of classy footwork.

Crawley has excellent control of his bat, which sounds obvious but isn't easy, and that is a reason for his competence against spin. One thing he still has not cracked is what to play and what to leave alone when the fast bowlers target that suspicious space a few inches outside his off-stump. It is a flaw which must be mastered if Crawley is to bat at the top of the order.

So the problem is not solved. Leaving Hollioake to vegetate at home before his likely presence in the World Series after Christmas seems a terrible waste. What a time Ben had of it yesterday! He tried so, so hard to prove he could knuckle down with the bat and it did him no, no good.

Better for Ben to take 'em on. Still, he had a good run-out with the ball in the evening and has clearly put on a yard of pace. No point in grumbling about him, he is a 20-year-old with talent and if he belonged to anyone else we'd be asking: ``Why don't we produce any young cricketers like him?''

So the selectors ought to take him to Australia . . . and Hick . . . and Crawley.