Solanki is ideal solution for stumped England

Just as they were vowing to put Sunday's defeat by South Africa in Cape Town behind them, Matt Prior was damaging his right thumb in practice at Kingsmead.

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It leaves England likely to be without their only wicketkeeper when they go into their second Super Eights match this morning and forced to contemplate another reshuffle of a batting order that has failed to fire. Defeat would see them all but eliminated and contemplating an early flight to Sri Lanka for next month's one-day series.

With Prior yet to justify his place at the top of the order, England's batting could well be strengthened if they bring Vikram Solanki into the side and hand him the keeping gloves. But that still leaves the tricky problem of whether to retain Luke Wright as an opener.

Officially, England will decide between Solanki, Owais Shah and Darren Maddy if Prior, who was struck while facing throw- downs from coach Peter Moores, fails to make it. But the sight of the Worcestershire captain practising in gauntlets yesterday was quite a clue.

Solanki is very much an occasional keeper but did spend a day behind the stumps earlier this season in the County Championship against Yorkshire, when Steven Davies suffered a bereavement.

One player who will definitely play is Kevin Pietersen, who thought he had damaged his left elbow in the bizarre run out on Sunday involving Shaun Pollock which turned the game South Africa's way. He practised yesterday without any pain.

Pietersen is back in the city where he grew up, looking forward to catching up with family and friends and keen to absolve Pollock, an old pal from his Natal days, of blame for the collision which knocked England's Twenty20 campaign off course.

'I've looked at it on replay several times and, while it does look like Polly got in my way, not for one second did I think he deliberately obstructed me,' said Pietersen.

'I know Shaun and he's not that sort of cricketer. I guess South Africa could have called me back and people said to me afterwards, "Why didn't you say anything?" but it all happened in a split second and I'm not for one minute complaining.'

However, Pietersen was not too keen to blame his own running between the wickets for his demise. 'There was a comfortable single there and if Polly hadn't got in my way I'd have been next to the umpire by the time the ball hit the stumps,' he said.

'If I'd been facing the right way I guess I would have run around him but it had nothing to do with my running. As the laws stand the third umpire had to give me out because I was clearly out of my ground. It was not a nice feeling because I was batting well and I wanted to hang on in there for another hour and win the match.'

England will certainly need Pietersen to hang around today as he is just about the only batsman who has even suggested permanence. Two years ago, when he scored three centuries here in his first major one- day series for England, he was denied the chance of batting at Kingsmead by rain but he wants to put that right against New Zealand.

He still does not appear to have been won over by the merits of the shortest form of the game and believes any match can be won by a flash of individual brilliance rather than necessarily the best side.

'Twenty20 is a lottery,' he said. 'It's a fascinating game but one that I'm not sure you can prepare yourself fully for. It's hit and miss cricket and on any given day a bloke can destroy you.'

p.newman@dailymail.co.uk