A pleasant surprise to see an England team not capitulate and show a bit of fight. I write this one hour before the final day's play so anything could yet happen but it is reassuring nonetheless to see the resilience shown so far in only losing one wicket on the fourth day after being 220 runs behind on 1st innings. There is still a nagging doubt that it could all end in tears after a couple of good starts in the summer saw us lose our way in the middle order whilst Pietersen was struggling for form. Flaky opposition and an incredible knock from Stuart Broad papered over the cracks then but do not hide the fact that Collingwood needs runs as well as KP and Bell looks to be in form but is still re-establishing his place. The trouble seems to be a lack of serious competition amongst the batsmen and the only other player to feature recently is Eion Morgan, a fantastic one day player who has yet to be properly tested in the five day format after replacing the injured Bell against Pakistan. Prior has plenty of competition in Davies and Kieswetter to keep him sharp and there are a number of bowlers who are waiting in the wings who have all played recently but not featured either through form or injury such as Onions, Plunkett, Panesar and Mahmood. After a bad performance it is often the bowlers who are dropped or occasionally we may decide to select an extra seamer / spinner and they also acquire a greater share of injuries. Batsmen on the other hand are a closed shop and any poor run of form is underlined with the proviso that we must persevere with them and "a big score is just around the corner". The trouble with England batsmen recently is that they appear to take it in turns to score the century that cements their place for the forthcoming series. Out of six batsmen, if one scores a century and a second gets a half century while the others scrabble around for scraps that usually gives us enough runs to be competitive and the centurion can all but relax and score ducks in the other tests and let someone else take up the mantel. This perceived anomaly gives rise to the situation that we don't really know who to drop and let someone else have a go. At the moment Collingwood is most vulnerable because he's not scoring heavily and he's also perceived as expendable in that he's not recognized as a flair player but a dependable anchor (an often underrated attribute) and a fantastic fielder. He's also one of the older members of the team and as such someone who will having possible replacements discussed. The rest of the batsmen have their reasons why the management can't drop them: Strauss - captain; Cook - vice-captain and being lined up to replace Strauss; Trott - the newest member who has made a good start and been in the team long enough not to be the automatic drop; Pietersen -star man whose recent bad run has shown that he's bulletproof; Bell - the one everyone likes and is frustrated by who needs to convert his "natural talent" into runs but is in good form.
   Other than that the possible contenders would not frighten the opposition as they are not (or barely) tried and tested. Barring injury Morgan will be carrying drinks for the duration of the tour and the only other batsmen with recent experience are Carberry and at a push Rob Key, Owais Shah or even Luke Wright. No doubt the A team will look to provide replacements and I relish the thought of some younger players getting a chance - only I find it hard to envisage them being able to get that chance and if they do that they will be afforded the luxury of a decent run to establish themselves and not summarily dropped after a couple of low scores on debut - Usman Afzaal anyone?