England dilemma no.1 – Strauss or Flintoff?

Tomorrow the England selectors sit down, for the first time in 20 years, to pick a tour party to retain the Ashes. Even with all the injuries, most of the 16 pick themselves – Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Flintoff, Read, Hoggard, Harmison and Panesar are certainties. The other six places are the ones that will dominate the conversation. Here are the dilemmas David Graveney, Geoff Miller and Duncan Fletcher must resolve, starting with the captaincy.

This is as close as captaincy ever gets to a 50-50 decision. Andrew Strauss has won a series, has captained a county, is usually fit, doesn’t bowl, and is a Fletcher man. He is calm, thoughtful, educated and has made the most of limited talent. But he hasn’t captained England on tour or played a Test in Australia.

Andrew Flintoff has captained in India, the only place close to being as tough as Australia. He has charisma and almost unlimited talent, he scares the Aussies and inspires team-mates, especially the opening bowlers, Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard. But he can be tactically naïve, is apt to overbowl himself and keeps more of a distance from Fletcher.

The clinching question is: what feels more natural, Flintoff as captain with Strauss as his lieutenant, or the other way round? Answer: Flintoff, just.