The Ashes: Loop, Turn, Grunt and Fizz - Why England Need the Full Monty

Yesterday morning at the end of England's net session at the Adelaide Oval, Monty Panesar stayed on for more. This is hardly unusual for a player who is constantly seeking to better himself but this time there was a difference.

Watched by Duncan Fletcher, Panesar sent down one effort ball after another in the direction of a small red square outside off stump. Geraint Jones was wearing the gloves while England's video analyst Mark Garaway dangled a token bat but this was all about one man. Panesar oozed energy, emitted several meaningful grunts and - crucially perhaps - bowled with loop and turn. If it was clear that Fletcher is taking a long, hard look at a player he was moved to describe as the world's best finger-spinner as recently as August, then it was equally tempting to view the tableau as Panesar's trial for a place in tomorrow's second Test. He did not disappoint.

The ink is still drying in the scorer's book at Brisbane but already Panesar's role on this tour is threatening to become that of cause célébre. His absence at The Gabba, where his fellow left-arm spinner Ashley Giles played instead and took one for 113, caused disbelief among England fans who had become addicted to his ingenuous ways. The talkboards were fuming, the blogs boiling over. Ian Botham described it as a "mystery". The only thing lacking was an intervention from Tony Blair.

His omission was also seized upon as a typical piece of Fletcher conservatism by Australians who usually reserve their judgment on a cricketer until they have seen him with their own eyes. Yet every time you ask an Australian player whether he was surprised Panesar missed out and are greeted with the answer "Not really, mate", it is obvious the weariness is aimed at England's selection policy rather than Panesar's ability as a left-arm spinner.

The reactions of both the English and the Australians are perhaps too simple, because it has generally been agreed - by state batsmen and spin-bowling experts alike - that Panesar has bowled too fast so far on this tour to make best use of the pitches both here and at Sydney. But following England's hammering in the first Test, the left-arm bowler has been working hard with Fletcher to inject more loop into his game and the call for his inclusion here -probably at the expense of Jimmy Anderson - is crescendoing. Never mind that Australia have resisted the opportunity to play Stuart MacGill alongside his fellow leg-spinner Shane Warne. England need 20 wickets, and many observers are agreed that Panesar might just represent their best chance of getting close.

Panesar has already received backing from Mike Hussey, the Australian batsman whose prodigious work ethic most closely resembles that of his former Northamptonshire colleague. Both men have reason to remember Panesar's maiden county championship appearance against Leicestershire in 2001.

While Hussey made 232 and 82, Panesar returned figures of 35-5-120-4 and then 20-16-11-4 as Leicestershire were skittled for 85. Since then the mutual admiration has been taken for granted. Hussey reminisced fondly on Tuesday about how Panesar had been working on a doosra while the two were team-mates, and said he "loved" his approach to the game.

Yesterday another member of Australia's old Northants brigade, Matthew Hayden, was equally effusive. Hayden's two seasons at the county in 1999 and 2000 came at a time when Panesar was in the second XI, but he recalls how "when I was captain, I was very keen to get Monty in the side. He's a good young cricketer and a beautiful flight bowler, very similar to Daniel Vettori of New Zealand. I think he's a really impressive boy. I'm not overly surprised he was left out at Brisbane but I'm sure he will come into his own as the series wears on."

And there was more backing from the former Australia off-spinner Greg Matthews, who played 33 Tests in the 1980s and 90s. "The only other spin bowler over the last 30 years who I've seen get as much energy through the crease as Monty is Ashley Mallett and he was a great. Monty really gets on his toes," he said. "You need all your energy going down towards where the ball is heading, and you don't really get that with Ashley Giles. He's not using 50% of his motor. He has an enormous amount of growth left in him as a spinner but he needs to be more dynamic. They have split screens these days but I don't need to see a split screen to see that the difference between Giles and Panesar is enormous."

Matthews bridles at the suggestion that finger-spinners necessarily struggle in Australia and cites Mallett's eight for 59 against Pakistan in 1972-73 and the off-spinner Tim May's five for nine against West Indies in 1992-93. Both performances came at Adelaide, where Shane Warne took a match-winning six for 80 against West Indies a year ago, and the words of Adelaide's groundsman Les Burdett do not exactly count against Panesar either: "The pitch will take spin, there's no two ways about it. This pitch has had five Test matches on it and has always taken spin during the last part of the game starting from day four."

Panesar has experienced these parts before as a grade cricketer for the Glenelg Seahorses, the former club of the Chappell brothers. But he was not exactly a hit. "I actually thought he was a very average bowler," a club official told the Melbourne Age. "He could put it on the spot but it didn't exactly fizz off the pitch. We were staggered when he got a Test call-up." Panesar was also known for being terrified of Hugo, the club captain's dog. England fans are just hoping that over the next few days Panesar gets a chance to show he's not frightened of Australia's batsmen.