The selectors meet and decide their Ashes squad this week – the names of England’s tourists will be announced at 10am on Wednesday – and maybe they deserve some sympathy. Their task is tricky and familiar to anyone who has agonised for hours over a jigsaw puzzle only to discover that there are some key pieces missing.
Those selectors have already been in the firing line from Durham’s chairman, Sir Ian Botham, who is enraged by the way so many of his county’s talented cricketers are heading south in pursuit of greener, First Division pastures. Botham has hinted that players are seduced by the prospect of playing for county cricket directors who are also national selectors. Andrew Strauss, England’s cricket director, has countered strongly in defence of Middlesex’s Angus Fraser and Nottinghamshire’s Mick Newell.
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