Five-strong attack gives England right balance

Hussain can reflect on a selection policy that paid off while Sri Lanka struggle without support for Muralitharan

Following England's comprehensive victory over Sri Lanka, by an innings and 111 runs, their captain Nasser Hussain, coach Duncan Fletcher and fellow selectors David Graveney and Geoff Miller can sit down, enjoy a glass of wine and reflect on a good week's work at Edgbaston.

Unfortunately for the four of them, the chance to saviour the moment will be short-lived. Before they know it they will be required, if they have not begun already, to start applying their minds to the third and decisive Test at Old Trafford.

Despite being 1-0 up in the three-match series, Hussain and Fletcher repeatedly state that whether England win or lose, there are still plenty of areas where this side can improve. However they can take great satisfaction from the fact that virtually every decision they made during the second Test proved correct.

Their first, and boldest, was the selection of a fifth bowler. Some may think the difference between playing four or five bowlers, at the expense of a batsman, is minimal. Well it is not: playing a fifth bowler can completely change the balance of a side if it does not have an all-rounder in its ranks.

In such a predicament, the selectors have to make a tough decision and weigh up which out of the sixth batsman or the fifth bowler is likely to have the bigger impact on the game.

Such indecision, more often than not, tends to lead to the cautious option of picking four bowlers, and this is why it was refreshing to see England pick a side that backed its batsmen to score the necessary runs – and pick a five-man bowling attack. On this occasion, even though a couple of the bowlers did not exactly have strenuous games – Alex Tudor bowled 18.5 overs and Andrew Flintoff only 11 – England made a statement on the first morning and that was that they were going out to win the game, and they did.

Some sides can get away with playing just four bowlers because of the quality of those in their team. If a team have a Glenn McGrath, a Shane Warne or a Muttiah Muralitharan at full fitness they can afford to play just four, because no matter what the state of the game or the pitch, the bowlers will be effective. England lack a bowler of such quality and that is why they require numbers to obtain the necessary cutting edge and variety.

One feels that this balance, while being Fletcher's preferred option, is not the unanimous approach of the selectors. Fletcher, who calls himself "essentially a five-bowler man", feels that his thinking has something to do with the culture in which he was brought up, and that "every side should have a spinner and four seamers in it. You have to have it because you know a game can last four days and it makes it easier on Nasser."

England can afford to take this positive approach now because their current side definitely contains two all-rounders in the form of Alec Stewart and Andrew Flintoff, although Fletcher has high hopes that Alex Tudor will make it three.

With England deservedly 1-0 up in the series, their supporters will hope that for the final Test the selectors do not just sit on this lead, but go out to win the series 2-0.

The tourists, however, are in the opposite situation to England, in that they possess in Muralitharan a bowler who, were he English, could transform Hussain's team into one of the best in the world. Sri Lanka do not, however, bowl as a team.

Following the three and a half days of cricket at Edgbaston, it could be seen that the Sri Lankan bowlers are not working as a unit and are too reliant on Muralitharan winning them games. It is great to have such a magnificent bowler in your side but the tourists need someone to support him.

At Edgbaston England's batsmen continued with the fine work they started 14 months ago in Sri Lanka against Muralitharan, and in the four Test matches he has played against England since his 16-wicket haul at the Oval in 1998, his strike rate has been a wicket every 78.2 balls. If Hussain's side can keep the little magician's success to a similar level next week at Old Trafford, the series is theirs.