Last time the quandary was how to accommodate Jimmy Anderson; this time it is Stuart Broad who is posing the questions … or at least some of them. Alastair Cook sounded doubtful when asked if Broad’s injured foot will have recovered in time for the third Test but in a way his enforced absence may make life easier for the selectors because they could simply bring back Chris Woakes. However the perceived wisdom is that conditions in Mohali are the most likely to suit seam and if England are ever to revert to four seamers then this is the place they will do so. Therefore if Broad is fit then surely Woakes will replace Zafar Ansari. The Surrey man is a talented cricketer with an admirable attitude and it is too soon to write him off but he was a passenger in the second Test. Cook barely trusted him with the ball in the first innings – he took none for 45 from 12 overs – and did not bowl him at all in the second due to a back injury, while he managed only four runs. If Broad is not fit then Ansari’s poor performances raise further questions: do they stick to three spinners and bring in the 39-year-old Gareth Batty – a better bowler than Ansari in any case – or ask Steven Finn or Jake Ball to come in cold? Dan Lucas
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