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Kevin Pietersen made a timely return to form to see England past Scotland — but have the selectors chosen the wrong man to replace the injured Andrew Flintoff?
When the all-rounder pulled out of the squad after failing to recover from knee surgery in time, it was assumed Tim Bresnan would take his place.
Instead, England went for Bresnan's county team-mate Adil Rashid, even though he has struggled to force his way into the Yorkshire side for their Twenty20 Cup matches this season.
Rashid has considerable talent, but, his performance at Trent Bridge suggested the 21-year-old is perhaps not ready for international action. He is almost certain to make way for off-spinner Graeme Swann when England open the World Twenty20 against Holland at Lord's on Friday.
Bresnan, on the other hand, would surely have earned a place in the starting XI, and the burly all-rounder underlined the point by producing a match-winning display against Durham in the Twenty20 Cup yesterday.
He took two for 18 to help restrict Durham to 116 for eight, before scoring 19 not out as his team squeaked home off the final ball of the match.
Given his chance against the Scots, Rashid looked edgy. Although he took a wicket with his fifth delivery, his three overs disappeared for 31 runs, and he struggled to find a consistent length.
Captain Paul Collingwood revealed: “Adil came to me after the first over and told me he felt a bit nervous, which you're going to get from a 21-year-old.
“He has the skill. He beats the bat on both sides and he has a googly, so he will play a big part. Against Scotland, his length was maybe a bit full, which is why their batsmen got hold of him.
“The good thing about these warm-up games is we can learn a lot from them. I'm sure he will practise a lot in the nets, talk to our spin-bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed, and hopefully come up with a better plan.”
Had it not been for Pietersen, England may well have been approaching tonight's second warm-up against West Indies at Lord's on the back of a defeat.
Yet even though he has still to recover fully from his Achilles problem, KP' was in dominant form, winning the game for England with six balls to spare by pulling Callum MacLeod over the midwicket boundary for the second six of his unbeaten 53.
Collingwood admitted: “Ideally, we would have been 20 per cent better with our batting, but the pointers are there for the rest of the tournament.
“Kevin showed his value with his innings. After a few weeks off with injury, he is raring to go, he has a buzz about him, and a big smile on his face. We will need more innings' like that from him.”
Although England were far from dominant, Scotland captain Gavin Hamilton believes the tournament hosts have the qualities needed to triumph.
“I've watched England quite closely in recent weeks,” said Hamilton. “The way they are playing, their work ethic and their professionalism are shining out for the world to see. England have the talent, and the right recipe in their team this year.”
