Thorpe's about-face offers Ramprakash chance of recall

Having seen plan A fly out of a window at the offices of the England and Wales Cricket Board at Lord's, England's selectors must now put their heads together to put a Graham Thorpeless plan B into action.

Thorpe was picked in the squad for this winter's Ashes series in Australia only after convincing the selectors he was in the right frame of mind to undertake the trip despite his recent marital problems. But on Monday night he contacted the ECB again to say that after further consideration he had decided he could not to tour after all.

After Thorpe's summer turmoil and his track record of leaving tours early this is a situation that England's chairman of selectors, David Graveney, must have contemplated before he announced the squad two weeks ago. However, it appears thoughtless that a replacement has not yet been decided upon considering the likelihood of this latest turn of events.

Discussions concerning plan B are likely to go no further than the names of Mark Ramprakash and Robert Key.

In rushing Thorpe back into their international plans the selectors indicated their determination to take the strongest and most experienced side they could down under. Because of this the likeliest replacement for the left-hander will be his Surrey team-mate Ramprakash.

While his overall Test record is poor, Ramprakash's performances against Australia have been excellent. In the 12 Test matches he has played against the best side in the world he has handled Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as well as any Englishman and averages 42. This and the fact he scored a marvellous hundred in England's last Test match against Australia at The Oval just over a year ago means he can look forward to a winter in New South Wales rather than Northwood.

However, the one thing which may work against the 33 year old is the fact that the replacement is probably going to be England's seventh batsman and therefore nothing but a glorified drinks waiter for most of the tour. What the selectors have to weigh up is whether they would like to give this opportunity to a young player, who would be delighted to fill this role, or an older player who would soon become hacked off at being a gopher.

If the England captain, Nasser Hussain, and the coach, Duncan Fletcher, who will have the final say over selection, decide to go for youth, Key is the man. During the two Test matches the 23-year-old played against India during the summer he technically looked well equipped to handle cricket at this level. Despite dropping a couple of catches at Headingley, the Kent opener did not appear overawed by the occasion and that is important considering how hostile Australian crowds and players can be.

Explaining his decision to pull out of the Ashes tour, Thorpe said: "It would be wrong to go to Australia for financial gain whilst I am finding it difficult to focus on the job in hand 100 per cent of the time. It is the hardest decision of my career and I ask that I am given the privacy needed to return next season."

Attempting to avoid showing his disappointment at the news, Graveney said: "You have got to be sympathetic to Graham in terms of what he has been through in the last few months. The bottom line is that he did not want to let anyone down and couldn't commit himself to going on tour. We respect this view and didn't try to talk him round."

In many ways Hussain and his side are fortunate that Thorpe has made this decision three weeks before England are due to leave for Australia because the effect it could have had on the side while away could have been catastrophic. But the predicament that he and his fellow selectors find themselves in is self-inflicted.

Thorpe should not have been selected for this tour in the first place. After retiring from one-day international cricket during the summer and then announcing he wished to take a complete rest from cricket so he could sort out the problems caused by the breakdown of his marriage, he should have been told to have the winter off. To think that he would be mentally okay after such a short space of time was unrealistic.

Some will blame Thorpe but the decision over whether to go on the tour or not should have been taken away from him. Through being put under pressure he was forced to make a hasty judgement over his availability. He said yes to give himself time only to realise he was not happy about the prospect of spending three months away from home.

Such problems do not seem of great interest to Adam Gilchrist, the Australian vice-captain. On hearing the news he said: "We do not spend a lot of time worrying about what their team is going to be. We will see what they turn up with for the first Test and deal with it."

There is no doubt Thorpe, who averages 45 in the 16 Tests he has played against Australia, will be missed. But this will not be the last of the selectors' worries before Australia and England face each other in Brisbane on 7 November.

For them there is still the small matter of Darren Gough's fitness. Perhaps now is the time to start preparing plan C.