Fletcher turns up the heat on Aussies

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Monty Panesar has made a 'huge difference', says Fletcher

Duncan Fletcher never likes saying much in public, but yesterday he allowed himself the luxury of playing a little mind game with Australia ahead of today's final World Cup warm-up.

Thirteen-a-side, unofficial or not, he ventured that the last preparation game would be of considerable significance to the defending champions.

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"It's more important to Australia to some degree," said Fletcher. "From their point of view they have been beaten by us three times in a row. It's quite a big thing if they go on to lose four."

Perhaps not quite in the same league as a Shane Warne wind-up, but what a turnaround Fletcher's comments represent from late January, when his opposite number John Buchanan arrogantly bemoaned the failure of England and New Zealand to test his side's one-day skills.

Since then Australia have lost six out of seven games, and you can be sure that this will be one of the most hotly-contested "friendlies" seen in this week's phoney war.

And Fletcher's observation should not camouflage the fact that his own team have several issues to address in the last game before the crunch group match proper against the Kiwis next Friday.

At this late stage England still want to know what their best bowling line-up is and everything still needs to be crossed that Michael Vaughan can somehow survive the next eight weeks.

Slightly alarmingly, there appeared to be the suggestion yesterday that Monty Panesar is regarded as England's second spinner behind allrounder Jamie Dalrymple.

"Monty has made a huge difference from the point of view that when you need two spinners the second should be one who is an attacking spinner," said Fletcher.

The coach retains a Monty-sceptic streak and, theoretically, this could mean he might be surplus, but the prevailing conditions should ensure Panesar's inclusion in this tournament.

In Australia the Northants man played nine of the 10 one-dayers and only went for more than 50 runs once, while Dalrymple was used more sparingly but was an ever-present.

So the two slower men are expected to play, and the remaining question is more likely to be who fill the specialist seamer's role alongside James Anderson.

Liam Plunkett, Jon Lewis and Sajid Mahmood will get the chance to press their case in today's format. While Mahmood is the outsider at this stage it is close between the other two, but you cannot help thinking that Plunkett would be more likely to implode under pressure than Lewis.

The other thing to look out for is how Vaughan fares, and he will only spend 20-30 overs out in the field, which is hardly ideal.

"You can't say it is a certainty that he is going to see out any match, but then you can't say that about anybody," said Fletcher.

Although it is true that nobody's fitness is sacrosanct, no other player has suffered the knee operations and subsequent absences of the inspirational Vaughan, with whom hope always has to accompany expectation.

England 13: Vaughan, Joyce, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Flintoff, Dalrymple, Nixon, Plunkett, Anderson, Panesar, Lewis, Mahmood. Australia 13:Watson, Gilchrist, Ponting, Clarke, Hodge, Hussey, Haddin, Hogg, Johnson, Clark, McGrath, Tait, Bracken.

 

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