Future is uncertain and end is always near — England post-mortem defeat

Yet bringing more players into the squad is sure to raise the hackles of county chairmen, many of whom had reservations about placing leading players on central contracts in the first place and will object strongly to losing even more staff to England commitments.

Of the 12 selected as the first recipients of the central contracts, only eight featured against the West Indies with neither Michael Vaughan nor Craig White considered to have played enough cricket for selection, Chris Schofield was completely overlooked and Dean Headley is sidelined for most of the season with back trouble.

Even players brought in have not enjoyed the best of luck with Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison, selected for the last three Test squads but released without making the eleven, could also face a spell on the sidelines after sustaining suspected shin splint problems.

It means England may be forced to once again look elsewhere with players like Dominic Cork and young Yorkshire fast bowler Matthew Hogg ard likely to come into contention for the next Test even if the selectors are insistent they will stick to their beliefs and make minimal changes.

“The moment you lose a game, and there is difference between that and being completely outplayed, there is a temptation to hit the panic button and make changes all over the place,” said chairman of selectors David Graveney.

“When you’re a selector and you’ve suffered an experience like this, it’s a question of holding your nerve.

“We’ve selected a team that played the first Test because we believed it was the right team, particularly the batsman.

“It is difficult at times to hold your nerve, there’s no difference between us and the people who watch, we hear what is being said and read the headlines, but you have to stick to your beliefs and we, as a selection panel, wish to do so.”

It is a theme echoed by England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Lord MacLaurin, who has also urged patience instead of the usual recriminations and accusations which follow many heavy defeats.

“As the captain said, we were outclassed,” he said. “We’ve certainly gone downhill since that good victory over Zimbabwe at Lord’s, but the coach and captain are resolute men and I’ll be looking to them to repair the damage,” he added.

To begin that process, England had a breakfast meeting on Sunday to discuss how best to make a strong response and prevent the series running away from them before it has really got started.

Graveney admitted: “If you look at all the series we’ve played in recent years, we have tended to hand the initiative to the opposition on a fairly regular basis, it’s very disappointing and it means we’re always chasing the game.”

“We’ve discussed the Test, but in a constructive manner as opposed to when players have left the ground sheepishly after a defeat like that and headed off to county games.

“We now have opportunities to sit down, talk about where we’ve gone wrong. The players know exactly the areas to concentrate on so in that respect it’s going in the right direction, but it doesn’t hide the disappointment of losing.”

The main topic was the threat of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, two fast bowlers with a combined age of 73 whose impact on the first Test was not diminished by their advancing years or the loss of some of their pace.

Man-of-the-Match Walsh finished with figures of 8-57 and although Ambrose collected only one wicket, he displayed enough menace to suggest he will play a bigger role in the remainder of the series.

“These are two quality opening bowlers we’re facing and despite everybody talking about their advanced combined ages, they are still quite worthy of being labelled World class,” said Graveney.

“That’s something that is bandied around all over the place with certain bowlers, but these two do qualify for that.

““Looking at the cricket they have played over the last couple of years, they are not bowling the same volume of overs as they have done although it is the same quality.

“Our situation is obvious, we have to get through the new ball with the minimum of damage to be able to score off bowlers like Reon King and Franklyn Rose, who are still very impressive but they are younger and less experienced,” he added.