Hussain awaits late recovery of walking wounded

England may pick Gough, Vaughan and Flintoff to face Queensland as West Indies show spirit in losing cause

D-Day looms for Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher as they attempt to decide how England should resolve the selection dificulties they are facing. The headache they need to overcome is that every player who has a chance of playing in Thursday's first Test needs to play in the three-day game against Queensland which starts here tomorrow.

However, 14 does not go into 11. While this is a puzzle for the captain and coach it is one they must be happy to have, because only a few days ago England were struggling to put 11 fit players on the park.

England have cut it fine, but they could well have 17 to choose from for the first time on this tour if Darren Gough, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff successfully come through fitness tests today. All three are certain to play if they come through, but Hussain and Fletcher have a lot of weighing up to do before announcing Saturday's side. They will be only too aware of the risks of throwing all their eggs in one basket.

In their desire to get these three up and running and in with a chance of playing against Australia the selectors will have to rob three other players of the opportunity of getting themselves good practice. And this is something they will be reluctant to do because even if all three successfully come through today's net session there is no guarantee that they will come through or show the form required to play in a Test match against the world champions in under a week's time.

"The selection meeting Nasser and I have over this game is very, very important" Fletcher said yesterday. "We have to get the balance right and decide who we give a game to to get mileage in their legs. Do we pick the Test side?"

"At the end of the day though we then have to be sure that the Queensland game is enough to give them [Gough, Vaughan and Flintoff] the mileage they need to play in a Test match and that we do not deprive someone whom we want to play in the Test of a little more practice by leaving them out. There are a lot of questions that need to be asked and we have to come up with some answers."

Before Hussain and Fletcher make a decision and contemplate possibly rushing players back before they are fully fit, they should sit down and ask themselves: "Would we be happy if Gough, Vaughan and Flintoff were to play four Test matches each by the end of this tour?"

Even though it is vital that England start this tour strongly and with the best side they can, the answer to this question has to be 'yes.' Therefore it would be unwise to play the above three unless they are 100 per cent sure of where they stand. After all, this is why 16 are brought on tour – to cover for injuries. Fletcher conceded that Vaughan's recovery is the slowest – but he is the player they would be most desperate to play.

The performance of the three likely replacements – Simon Jones, Robert Key and Craig White – will have encouraged Hussain and Fletcher not to press the "gamble" button yet. All three had good games against Western Australia, but will be tested just as severely by a strong Queensland side.

The Bulls are the current Pura Cup (Sheffield Shield) champions, with a squad that contains several names well known on the county circuit. Stuart Law, Jimmy Maher, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Michael Kasprowicz and Ashley Noffke have all served English counties with distinction and will each have an eye on a Test or World Cup place. Nothing would push their cause further than a good performance against a touring side.

Fletcher was full of praise for both Jones and Key – who owes his selection to the late withdrawal of Graham Thorpe.

"Robert has impressed and has played very well on this tour so far" said the England coach. "He has struck the ball and tried to be positive and that is how we want everyone to play. He has fitted into the role we have given him magnificently by going out and punishing the bad ball. He may be relaxed, but he has a good temperament and is the type of guy who needs a challenge. In the two Test matches he played against India last summer he showed that mentally he is a strong character."

He was equally enthusiastic on Jones, whose slow build-up during the first two weeks of the tour culminated with figures of 5 for 79 on Wednesday. Fletcher said: "It was important we tried to control him because he could have come out here and bowled flat out, lost his line and length – which is something he is concerned about at times – and that is very hard to get back. He is not flat out yet, but when he is I think he can combine both pace and control."

ENGLAND (probable): M E Trescothick, M P Vaughan (or R W T Key), M A Butcher, N Hussain (capt), J P Crawley, A J Stewart (wkt), A Flintoff (or C White), A F Giles, A R Caddick, M J Hoggard, D Gough (or S P Jones).

QUEENSLAND (probable): J P Maher (capt), B P Nash, M L Love, S G Law, A Symonds, L A Carseldine, W A Seccombe (wkt), A A Noffke, M S Kasprowicz, N M Hauritz, J H Dawes.