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Journalism of Courage
Selectors have always been clowns and always will be. The average sports fan, armed with a pint of beer, a loud voice and blessed hindsight, knows more than the lot of them put together.
Occasionally, though, there are moments of respite.
Right now, England’s cricket selectors are enjoying one of those rare moments. They recall a grizzled 39-year-old and he blossoms. They gamble on a raw 24-year-old pace bowler and he dazzles. Another pace bowler whose mental approach has been publicly called into question by his own captain returns to rave reviews while a balding batsman emerges from three years in the wilderness and people wonder why he was ever dropped.
Everything David Graveney and his panel have tried this English summer, much of it forced on them by a long injury list, has turned to gold.
