England entered the series as world number one's, and leave it with several questions about their future. South Africa played significantly better cricket, their bowlers in particular out-performing our own on pitches that offered either attack little assistance. South Africa were continually able to build pressure by consistent bowling which led to mistakes from the England batsman, that their South African counterparts, particularly the man below, did not make.
But there's no shame in losing to a better side. The problem comes when halfway through the series the dressing room conflicts that every side has, but that England have far worse than most currently, spill out into the media and lead to massive speculation about the future career of one of their own players. Not only was the Pietersen saga embarassing due to what had happened, but the drip drip nature of the reporting led to it taking up the entire week before the final Test, with the inevitable (and correct) conclusion of the dropping of Kevin Pietersen.
Whatever had been done previously in terms of money grabbing books written and IPL arguments in India, to criticise your head coach and captain to the opposition is inexcuseable, and then to be arrogant enough to not apologise when given the opportunity stupid in the extreme. Whatever is decided about Pietersen's central contract, even his biggest fans (of which I am very nearly one) need to accept that for the sake of dressing room unity that he cannot be picked whilst Flower is coach, and while a number of Strauss' friends remain in the dressing room.
On to India, and it was hard to see England winning there with Strauss and Pietersen but now it seems that damage limitation might have to be the extent of our amibition. We need to find an opener, a middle order batsman and decide exactly what mix of bowlers will suit us best on what are likely to be very slow burners in India. In terms of Strauss' replacement, many are excited by Joe Root, but England may take a long term view that he is better served with a home debut. I feel they only need look at the other opener and new captain to see that if the player is good enough, he is ready after the way Cook played in 2006. If England get cold feet on Root, Michael Carberry and Nick Compton would be solid choices although a good World T20 could push Alex Hales into the mix.
As for the Pietersen spot in the middle order, Taylor and Bairstow have possession but I would expect to see Eoin Morgan involved in some capacity. One poor tour should not cost him his repuation as a good player of spin, and England need a quick scoring batsman who has the ability to dominate an attack. With the bowlers, Anderson and Swann (if fit) will play and Broad's performances last winter should keep his spot. It will be Finn v Panesar but for the 1st Test expect England to test out India's ability against the short ball and pick Finn.
Predicted Squad for India - Alistair Cook (c), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, James Taylor, Matt Prior, Steven Davies, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar.
