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The England selectors do not always deserve sympathy. Far too frequently they merit only opprobrium for the tolerance they continue to show players unworthy of their support, and for withholding promotion from those who might make a difference. This morning, as they pick the team for the third Test, which starts at Old Trafford next Thursday, just be thankful that you are not in their shoes.

What can David Graveney, the chairman of the panel, and his co-selectors, Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting, say to Nasser Hussain that he does not know and has not already pored over at length? That nine-wicket defeat by New Zealand at Lord's, which squared the series at 1-1, so mocked the notion of collective responsibility that there is a good case for dropping half a dozen of the players.

Hussain will attend this morning's meeting as selector only, handicapped by the broken finger that forced him out of the last Test on the third morning. His choice as replacement is the first thing they have to clear up and it will not necessarily be Graham Thorpe, who took over in the field at Lord's.

Mark Butcher, Thorpe's Surrey team-mate, is more likely to lead out the players in Manchester. Butcher, 27 next month, is three years younger than Thorpe, who turns 30 tomorrow, and made a good case for this temporary elevation by leading Surrey capably earlier this season when Adam Hollioake, the regular captain, was away with the World Cup party.

The next puzzle is which batsman should replace Hussain. The answer has more or less been settled. Michael Atherton is the choice of each selector, not to bat at No 3 but to open with Butcher and allow Alec Stewart to bat 'first drop'. This is not ideal but, so far as England are concerned, circumstances do not permit idealism.

When Atherton pulled out of the final Test against Australia in Sydney in January with a back injury, and then withdrew from the original World Cup party, he appeared to have limped off into the sunset. Now he is on the verge of an international return, on his home ground, against opponents who have conceded four of his 12 Test hundreds.

Atherton can consider himself lucky, just as Hussain has been unlucky. He knew that the only way he could get back into the England side was by proving his fitness over a sustained period, and by making enough runs to warrant selection. Injuries, though, often prove providential and now, in a twist that goes against the grain of his injury-prone career, he is for once the beneficiary.

In his defence, it should be said that he is in decent form. He made the highest score of his life, 268 not out, in Lancashire's recent victory against Glamorgan at Blackpool, and he has reported no ill-effects from the back injury now that it has been diagnosed and treated properly.

Having assured themselves that Atherton is the right man, the selectors must confront the other problems that make this selection so awkward. The pitch is expected to be slow and to assist the slow bowlers, which raises a question that cannot be answered satisfactorily. If they want a second slow bowler, like Peter Such, how can they select one without disturbing the balance of the side?

They should have picked Andrew Flintoff at the start of the series but they will not do so now. They may like to pick Gavin Hamilton, of Yorkshire, who played with some success for Scotland in the World Cup, but he is a No 7, at best. So, if they pick three quick bowlers, two spinners and a wicketkeeper, either Hamilton or Chris Read will have to bat at No 6. Unless they are prepared to swallow that frog, there can be no room for a second specialist slow bowler, however much they want one.

Then there is the other course, the specialist batsman. It was given to Aftab Habib for the last two Tests and he did his best to give it back, though there would be many folk beyond Leicestershire who would regard his demotion as unfair. Others, with gilded reputations, were just as culpable at Lord's.

In his brief Test career, Habib has twice been bowled through the gate, and in the second innings at Lord's he was caught at slip off another poor stroke. But, he may point out, the more experienced members of the side were guilty of strokes no less rash.

Habib does not necessarily deserve another chance but it would be reasonable to give him one, not least because there are so few realistic alternatives.

Chris Adams, for all the runs he makes at county level - not as many as his admirers imagine, actually - should not strike anybody as a sure-fire bet. Darren Maddy, Habib's team-mate at Grace Road, is an opener by instinct and expectation. And so, too, is Michael Vaughan, of Yorkshire.

The place could therefore go to another casualty of the Australian tour. John Crawley, the Lancashire captain, knows Old Trafford well and is known to be an accomplished player of spin bowling. He is playing well without making many eye-catching scores but then, as everybody knows, eye-catching scores in county cricket do not always signify batting of Test quality.

In the continued absence of Darren Gough, who will miss the rest of the season with his calf injury, and in the temporary absence of Alex Tudor, who withdrew from the Lord's Test the night before the game with a dodgy knee, England will persist with the same quicker bowlers. Alan Mullally is vulnerable only if a second spinner plays.

Possible England XII: *M A Butcher, M A Atherton, A J Stewart, G P Thorpe, M R Ramprakash, J P Crawley, G M Hamilton, -C M W Read, A R Caddick, D W Headley, P C R Tufnell, A D Mullally.