Cook in duel with Collingwood to keep England place

The welcome re-appearance of Michael Vaughan on a cricket field has, from an England perspective, added extra spice to tomorrow's third Test against Sri Lanka. Should Vaughan's right knee stand up to the workload that will be placed upon it over the next six weeks, he will captain England in the first Test against Pakistan on 13 July.

English cricket will rejoice at the sight of Vaughan orchestrating events at Lord's but his return will lead to the exclusion of Paul Collingwood or Alastair Cook. Dropping either of these batsmen would seem a trifle harsh as both have thrived in recent times.

Collingwood has played in eight of England's last nine Tests and averages 43, while Cook has made a wonderful start to his international career, averaging 66 in four matches. But with Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss certain to open for the foreseeable future, and Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff batting in the middle order, one of them has to go.

Cook is aware that Trent Bridge may offer his last chance to impress before the Pakistan Test series because, unlike Collingwood, he is unlikely to play one-day cricket for England in the upcoming NatWest series.

"It is great that Vaughany is back and that his fitness is improving," Cook said. "Everybody knows that he is England captain and that when he is fit and ready he will be back in the side. It is now up to the rest of us to score runs.

"If I score runs then I have a very good chance of keeping my place. Everybody knows that. It is what England selection is based on. If you are wearing the shirt and you are scoring runs it makes selection [of others] very tough. And for me personally, if I continue to score runs, and get big runs, I should hopefully keep my place."

The key to Cook scoring will be his ability to deal with the Sri Lankan spin wizard, Muttiah Muralitharan, who dismissed him with a "doosra" in the first innings at Edgbaston. In the second, however, Cook guided England to a six-wicket win with a composed unbeaten 34.

Batsmen have to accept that Muralitharan is going to get them out from time to time, no matter how well they play him. Indeed, Kevin Pietersen has scored hundreds in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka but Muralitharan had dismissed him on two of the three occasions he has batted.

Cook admitted that he has never faced a spin bowler of Muralitharan's ability before but the challenge is one he enjoys. "It was good to see a little bit more of him at Edgbaston, but he is a genius and all his variations make him very tough to face," Cook said. "The more you look at him, the more you play against him, the more little clues that you pick up, but batting against him is very tough.

"I have faced leg-spinners who spin the ball the other way, but not an off-spinner with such similar looking deliveries that spin different ways. In an attempt to pick his variations I initially look at his action to see if there is any difference. There is a little bit of a difference [between the off-spinner and the doosra] but it is very marginal.

"I then look to watch the ball to see which way it is spinning. Sometimes I can pick it, sometimes I can't because he deliberately scrambles the seam so it is harder to pick. From then on it is a case of good luck."

On current form Cook is marginally ahead of Collingwood, and his inclusion in the side could lead to Vaughan batting at number five. Pietersen has been magnificent at four and it is good to keep him and Flintoff apart. The dilemma is sure to cause huge debate among the selectors, yet we should not feel sorry for them. These, so they say, are issues they love to have.