Ruminating on Matt Prior’s vulnerability in light of the Craig Kieswetter meteor got me thinking about what might befall the make-up of the England Test team in the lead up to the Ashes this summer.

England, entrenched in the era of central contracts, are determined to mark their selection policy with consistency. A settled side is what they want when taking on Australia in just under nine months. But the Ashes also demands a tightening of selection. No more time for blooding a few players for the challenge ahead (as is happening in the Bangladesh series). This is the challenge ahead. Things can happen suddenly in these circumstances.

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Craig Kieswetter’s emergence – which threatens, in more ways than one, to mirror that of Kevin Pietersen – means it’s crunch time for Matt Prior.

England may be planning to use Kieswetter as a batsman only for the time being, but if his form continues (he has scored 31, 77*, 40*, 50 and 81 in his last five Twenty20 matches for England A as well as 143 for an England XI in today’s 50-over tour match) then it won’t be long before pundits and selectors alike will wonder why he shouldn’t take the wicketkeepers slot and remove any doubt over whether England play five bowlers. Even the Ashes may not be too soon.

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Steve Harmison is really quite intriguing, isn’t he? Bowling to second slip, Sabina Park, homesickness, deadly, woeful, articulate, grumbler. He is the most fascinating English cricketer of the last decade, and now he’s just gone and got even more interesting.

Harmison told The Times today that he wants to play in the Ashes later this year. He what? Wasn’t he supposed to retire after his exclusion from England’s tour of South Africa? Didn’t he tell Andy Flower and the selectors that he couldn’t commit to the Ashes series? Well, he’s obviously forgotten about all of that, because “if they want me back, I’ll give my all for England. I’d love to go.”

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Pakistan are being squashed in Australia but if you’ve seen any of the cricket you’ll know their visit to England this summer won’t be boring.

We will be seeing a lot of them. Pakistan arrive in June and will be here until well into September. They play six Tests in total (two against Australia), five ODIs (all against England) and four Twenty20s (two against Australia).

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If you were listening to TMS during today’s tea break or have been reading his blogs, you will be well aware of Oli Broom’s solo-cycle to the Ashes in Australia. I am with him in Istanbul at the moment writing a feature for next month’s Wisden Cricketer.

I am not going to scoop myself but I wanted to give you a quick peek inside Oli’s trip. Eleven countries down on his way to Brisbane, he is almost through Europe – from Turkey he heads alone into the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Far East and Australasia. For a Chartered Surveyor from Berkshire that is definitely the unknown.
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Oli Broom is cycling to the 2010-11 Ashes, and he’s made it to Serbia. Please go to the bottom of the page and donate to one of his chosen charities.

One of my aims when I set out to cycle to the next Ashes series in Australia was to experience the game in as many countries as I could, and perhaps introduce newcomers to the greatest sport around.

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Phillip Hughes, Australia’s next big batting thing, had a torrid time against Andrew Flintoff in the Ashes, losing his place after two Tests of nervous jerking and hopping around the crease, avoiding short balls.

He next appears on the global radar forming an impressive opening partnership with David Warner for New South Wales in the Champions League. At the start of the semi-final against Victoria, he was the tournament’s leading run scorer.

But these two performances, once you see them in the flesh, are surprisingly similar. He’s got a big glitch in his technique – he got found out in the Ashes and is riding his luck for his state.

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In March this year, Australia picked a debutant legspinner at Cape Town against South Africa. This was Warne’s replacement, the answer to Australian spin troubles – Bryce McGain had had a number of solid seasons for Victoria and, despite being a week short of his 37th birthday and Australia’s oldest debutant, he had forced his way into the side. That was as good as it got. Kallis battered him, de Villiers cashed in, Australia lost by an innings and McGain took home figures of 18-2-149-0. It was a brutal introduction and swift ending to his international experience. Now, in the glamorous surrounds of the Champions League in Delhi, where he fights even to find a starting spot for the Victoria Bushrangers, he’s had a chance to digest the toughest and briefest of Test careers:

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Like many life-affirming moments, it happened in a pub. One Friday evening, after a few drinks in my favourite local, I announced to a few friends that I planned to cycle around the world. Laughter… followed by silence, perhaps as they saw that I was serious… and then more laughter as they realised the absurdity.

They all knew me too well. My lack of any sort of savings, complete absence of cycle-touring experience and famously spindly legs were all offered as reasons that I wouldn’t begin such a mammoth journey, let alone finish it.  They also didn’t believe that I could cope without playing cricket for a year. But they didn’t know that my mind was made up. After six years behind a desk in London fulfilling very few of my childhood dreams, it was time to tackle some.

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It’s started to get a bit colder now, which isn’t to my liking. The scheduling has shoved us up higher and higher as it gets colder, so it will be interesting in Durham on Sunday that’s for sure! This one-day series has gone excellently for the team; I’ve only played two games, but the boys have been playing real well and it’s been good to watch. To be up 6-0 at the moment is a little bit of reward at the end of a disappointing summer. It’s pleasing, but we will still leave with the disappointment of not having the Ashes.

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