Off with their heads - England selectors and their muddled logic

At the time of writing, England have just announced recalls for Steve Harmison and Stuart Broad, who will replace Ravi Bopara and Ryan Sidebottom. Sidebottom is being rested after a niggling injury, but it is absolutely inexplicable to see Ravi Bopara not make his test debut here. In his new role as captain, some of us would have been expecting a sea change with Pietersen at the helm, but he must realise that England have been drifting in the test arena for the past 2-3 years because they have been inconsistent in their selections, and they have compromised when they should have been ruthless.

Harmison is no doubt an excellent bowler, but having retired from ODI's, his selection begs the question as to why Simon Jones has not been recalled. Jones has been in red-hot form since returning from injury this season for Worcestershire, yet he has not even made a single England squad this summer.

I'm not sure what sort of quasi-nepotism has been going on with Stuart Broad, but if he is a test match bowler, then there must be hundreds of village bowlers across the country scratching their heads, wondering why they haven't been given a look-in. As I've said before in this column, Broad must return to county cricket as a matter of urgency. If he does play in the test side, it should be at no 6, as a batting all-rounder. I am not denying that Broad is a talented young player, but there is no chance that he is a test bowler at the moment, and he could well get slaughtered on what is likely to be a bowler's graveyard. At test level, Broad is at best a batsman who can bowl a bit. Save him the anguish of figures of 1/100 on a regular basis, and let him learn his trade in county cricket.

To the batting, and Paul Collingwood's career-saving innings in the last match at Edgbaston is arguably delaying the inevitable - he will have a mediocre test career with some impressive, ballsy innings, before he is dropped in a couple of years. The situation is similar to that of Ian Bell - his 199 in the opening test at Lord's was pleasing to the eye, but he rarely scores hundreds under pressure, and only ever seems to score runs after a good platform from the openers. There is no doubt that Ian Bell has the talent, but the England selectors need to find their ruthless streak again. They made a tough call by dropping Matthew Hoggard after one poor match in New Zealand, but there seems to be a class of ‘favourite' players who are immune to being dropped from the side.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Owais Shah in particular. He has performed year after year in county cricket, and has pushed on with exceptional one-day performances for Middlesex this year. Critics may point to his lack of first-class runs this season, but his recent match-winning innings in the one-day arena should surely prove that he is in incredible form. Ravi Bopara is similarly talented, and along with Shah, the pair are probably the most in-form batsmen in county cricket at the moment. They are certainly more deserving of a place in the side than Bell and Collingwood, but at the moment it seems like an injury will be needed for either player to be in with a chance of making the test side.

On that note, England's ODI squad was announced on Monday, and it was interesting to see Dimitri Mascarenhas dropped from the side. I have long been an advocate of Mascarenhas, and it is quite clear to all observers that he has not been given a fair and consistent run in the side. The selectors seem to have dumped him after only seven ODI innings, where he has let nobody down, and chipped in with handy - and often destructive cameos - while keeping it tight with the ball.

It is hard to fathom how the likes of Luke Wright, Stuart Broad and Samit Patel are in the squad ahead of the Hampshire all-rounder. If there is any justice in the world, then Mascarenhas will be an automatic selection for the Stanford 20/20 for 20 in November.

Finally, wicket-keeper Tim Ambrose has been dropped from the ODI squad against South Africa in favour of Matt Prior, but he still inexplicably retains his place in the test line-up. It is sheer madness to have dual wicket-keepers for tests and ODI's - Ambrose averages 18.6 in the current test series, and a measly 2.5 in his five ODI's to date. He should be nowhere near the side, let alone ahead of the likes of James Foster, comfortably the best gloveman in the country.

Overall, Ambrose, Harmison, Collingwood and Bell will always put in the odd good performance, but in the long-term, they are flogging a dead horse with each of these players. Broad is being managed poorly and needs to go back to county cricket to regain confidence and form to challenge the likes of Chris Tremlett and Simon Jones for a place in the test side, as there is no way he can justify his place in the side with his bowling.

In fairness, we shouldn't lambast the players mentioned - it is the fat cat selectors who need to be handed their severance packages.