Stuart's Beef As England Look At Changes

This is the understatement of the year, but England desperately need a performance in the second Test in Mumbai.

Defeat would end England’s chances of winning the series with just two tests played. It would also result in England’s worst run of Test results in a calendar year, a defeat in Mumbai would be their eighth of 2012.

England’s insipid bowling display in Ahmedabad leaves them with a dichotomy to solve ahead of day one of the second Test: Do they go with five specialist bowlers, or do they maintain the four man attack that so badly faltered last time out?

Whichever option England decide to go for, there will surely be changes to the personnel involved. Tim Bresnan - whose pace has undoubtedly dropped since surgery on an injured elbow last year – now sadly lacks the zip required to trouble batsmen at this level, and his disappointing return of 19 overs, no wickets for 73 runs in India’s first innings at Ahmedabad will surely result in him missing out here.

Bresnan will almost certainly be replaced by Monty Panesar, with the wicket expected to turn and an acknowledgement from Coach Andy Flower this week that he should have played in Ahmedabad, Monty will provide the support to Graeme Swann that Samit Patel’s part time spin could never do and in truth, was never supposed to.

Vice-captain Stuart Broad missed nets on Thursday. This was said to be a precautionary measure, but it’s possible that his absence could result in Stuart Meaker making a surprise Test debut on Friday.

Meaker, who was drafted into the touring party as cover for the injured Steven Finn, presents England with an interesting conundrum because Broad, like Bresnan, struggled to make an impression with the ball in Ahmedabad, and with Meaker’s pace and skiddy action presenting different challenges to the Indian batsmen, it might be a move that even a fit and well Broad may have succumbed to.

That said it would be huge decision to draft in a young bowler on test debut for a game England cannot afford to lose. My hunch is Broad will play, although had Steven Finn been fit again he would surely have lined up alongside Anderson, Swann and Monty in England’s bowling quartet, with Patel providing back-up should it be required (it will be required).

England need their batting line up to fire as well though, and they would do well to take a leaf out of Australian captain Michael Clarke’s book, who scored his fourth double hundred of 2012 against South Africa in Adelaide on Thursday.

Pup’s average this year is breath-taking 141 and whilst Alastair Cook will hope his appointment as captain will yield similar returns as it has done for his Australian counterpart, he also knows and has stated this week that the rest of England’s batting line up need to deliver now too.

One man who won’t be scoring runs in Mumbai is new dad Ian Bell, who has returned to England following the birth of his son. Jonny Bairstow looks most likely to replace Bell at five following scores of 95 and 54 against South Africa in his last test, not to mention a century against Mumbai A in England’s final warm-up match before this series started.

If Patel remains at six, England could potentially have three changes to the side that lost by nine wickets last week. It’s hardly the start of a new era, but if Bairstow and Meaker come in and score runs and take wickets, it is hard to see how either Bell or Broad would get back into the side, on this tour at least.

England are in desperate need of finding a winning formula in India. Broad won’t want to be dropped, and as part of the ECB establishment I am sure his employers won’t want to drop him either, but England have to pose more of a threat with the ball in Mumbai than they did last week, so Broad might well have to miss out.