England will keep faith with Foster

James Foster had a chastening one-day series in India and New Zealand, but that will not prevent him from resuming his Test career once the Test series begins in Christchurch next week. After enjoying a few days off the tour with his girlfriend, Foster will play in tomorrow's three-day match against Canterbury, a sure sign that both the England captain, Nasser Hussain, and the team's coach, Duncan Fletcher, are committed to keeping faith with young talent.

One of several successes in the Tests before Christmas, Foster did not take to one-day cricket and his confidence suffered. Trying to bat at seven or eight in the limited-overs game is trickier than skinning snakes and often defeats the experienced campaigner, let alone one who has yet to cut himself shaving.

Those batting failures clearly occupied his mind and he began to fluff catches as a result. One too many saw him lose his gloves to Marcus Trescothick, a part-time wicketkeeper, which no doubt felt humiliating, but it did give England more options.

Warren Hegg's presence in the last game was largely a red herring as far as Test selection went, but with Foster needing more work at the one-day coalface with Essex, Fletcher may yet have an eye on him for the one-day role should Alec Stewart's Grecian 2000 and Sanatogen tonic fail to keep the perennial old pro youthful enough.

To persevere with Foster in the Tests is absolutely the right decision, if only because he is the younger man. English cricket has shied away from its youth policies too long and must not get cold feet now. In any case, Foster batted with great skill and courage in both Ahmedabad and Bangalore with scores of 40 and 48, and once he had got over a initial bout of the jitters gloved the ball well too.

The bold are often rewarded in sport. South Africa kept faith with Mark Boucher and New Zealand stuck with Adam Parore, at least in the early part of his career. The result, notwithstanding the immensely gifted Adam Gilchrist, are two of the finest keeper-batsmen in the game.

Indeed, Parore's value has been proved by the speed in which the New Zealand selectors have resolved the dilemma facing him, after their chairman, Sir Richard Hadlee, had stated that he would not pick a player who had not played for a month, after Parore had taken time off.

With Parore committing himself to the England series, though not to much cricket beforehand, Sir Richard has conceded that the panel "can now sit down to debate the Test side in the sure knowledge that the wicketkeeper is fully committed to the cause." In other words, Parore will be in the Test squad to be announced on Friday.

England's final 12 for the opening skirmish will depend on the machinations over the coming game against Canterbury. Hussain will play, as will Foster, but there is a feeling that although the likes of Graham Thorpe and Andrew Flintoff need a break, they also need to bat in a match situation.

Thorpe has done well abroad before, but usually on hard dry pitches of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With injury keeping him out for most of the English summer, and personal problems curtailing his tour of India before Christmas, the concern is that he is short of batting on pitches where the ball nibbles about, and the management feel he probably needs to get some hours on the clock.

Flintoff's reasons are different and with England perhaps looking for Michael Vaughan to play as a sixth batsman in the Tests, Hussain needs one of his all-rounders, either Flintoff or Craig White, to show some outstanding form with bat and ball. So far both are shy of runs and Flintoff's left knee is sore.

The bowlers will not be spared either and, despite the return of Matthew Hoggard and the spinner Ashley Giles, Andrew Caddick will be bowled into the ground as a means to discover his rhythm. Rest may be in vogue but, in the precious last moments before the opening Test, only Marcus Trescothick looks like getting some.