D-day For Fred,and Best Served Piping Hot

WHY ANDREW FLINTOFF MUST BAT AT NO7 THIS SUMMER

When Michael Vaughan performed the aimless walk of agony after being hit on the glove by Stuart Clark at the Rose Bowl late on Thursday evening, the groan went up from well beyond the confines of the press-box. This was the definitive Worst Possible Start for the reign of Peter Moores, although the more calculating observers - how dare you include the Spin! - have pointed out that Vaughan's almost certain absence from the Lord's Test against West Indies at least removes the need to drop one of Ian Bell, Alastair Cook and future England captain Paul Collingwood.

Yet strangely, the removal from the scene of Vaughan for one Test and possibly two is not the most pressing issue on England's agenda as they prepare to pick their squad. (After all, Andrew Strauss will get the chance to show that his captaincy really did contribute to the series win over Pakistan last summer, and Vaughan's absence ought not to hamper England's chances of making 450.) No, what Moores must decide is where to bat Andrew Flintoff. As much as anything, his decision could define the extent to which England really are entering a new era.

Duncan Fletcher would probably have kept Flintoff at No6 on the grounds that a demotion would call into question what had gone before - in other words, Fletcher's judgment. But Moores has the chance to reignite a player we now struggle to call the world's best all-rounder. And he can do it by accepting what has become increasingly clear: Flintoff is not a top-six Test batsman but a high-class No7 who should have a licence to play his natural game and a world-class fast bowler.

Granted, few of us were saying this when Flintoff was averaging 40 with the bat against Australia in 2005, but since then the evidence has mounted. Flintoff has gone 31 Test innings without making a hundred, which is far longer than the 20 he went at the start of his career before hitting 137 in Nathan Astle's match at Christchurch. It is his most extended slump yet. And while the Spin wouldn't like to comment on suggestions that Flintoff might have lost some of his enthusiasm for the game over the winter, it is clear he needs a fresh challenge.

Fletcher's other gripe about dropping Flintoff to No7 would have been that it threatens the balance of the team. But England's only Test series success since 2005 came against Pakistan last year, when Flintoff's ankle problem necessitated a four-man attack. They were not unbalanced then, and they will not be now, especially with Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison so keen to remind fans of their existence. In any case, back-up of Kevin Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood amounts to half a bowler, and a Brian Lara-less West Indies ought not to stretch England's resources too much.

And by taking the pressure off Flintoff the batsman, Moores would also open up a space in the top six to test someone else while Vaughan recovers. If there is any justice, he will turn to Owais Shah, who made 88 and 38 on Test debut at Mumbai over a year ago but seemed to fall out of favour as a result of three failures in the one-day series that followed. One of the great strengths of the Fletcher era was that new batsmen invariably settled in immediately at Test level. Shah deserves the chance to show that Mumbai was no fluke.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We are of the opinion that it was unethical for Gilchrist to use a squash ball to give an unfair advantage" - Kangadaran Mathivanan, the secretary of the Sri Lankan cricket board, clutches at straws by objecting to the squash ball Gilchrist put in his left glove to help with his grip during his match-winning 149 in the World Cup final

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EXTRAS

The Spin has never gone along with the general wisdom that revenge is a dish best served cold, preferring instead to get its own back immediately while tempers are still flaring and the mist is scarlet. But the world of county cricket has never been in a particular hurry to get anything done, which might explain the amusing tit-for-tat exchange - with a whole year between action and reaction - in the pages of The Wisden Cricketer between Mark Wagh, who joined Nottinghamshire from Warwickshire in the close season, and the Sussex all-rounder Robin Martin-Jenkins.

Way back in the magazine's May 2006 edition, a happy time when England held the Ashes and the Spin's base-rate tracker mortgage hadn't spiralled out of control, Wagh penned a pre-season prediction for each county. Staring into his crystal ball, he foresaw a torrid time for Sussex. "A controversial selection for championship relegation," he confessed, "but division one will be exceptionally competitive."

Sussex duly pinned Wagh's vote of confidence on their dressing-room wall, before going out and winning their second county championship in four seasons. But the full extent of their outrage had been a well-kept secret. Until the Nostradamus baton passed to Martin-Jenkins for TWC's pre-2007 package. "A year ago Mark Wagh predicted Sussex would be relegated in the championship," he began. "I'm delighted to return the compliment, though he is no longer at Edgbaston to worry about it. I actually think they have a talented squad and could win something this year but revenge is a dish, etc." [RMJ's "etc", not the Spin's].

It's a minor detail, but Warwickshire are currently top of division one with 55 points from a possible 66, thanks in part to an innings thrashing of Sussex, who have also lost by an innings to Kent. At this rate, that dish could have developed icicles before revenge is achieved.

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THE WEEK IN CRICKET


· Contrary to speculation, the Indian board has no immediate plans to table a no-confidence motion in the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed, following the World Cup fiasco. "A no-confidence motion is a serious issue and before we take any action like this it has to be discussed within the BCCI and also among other nation members to see if there is some sort of consensus," a board official tells Cricinfo.

· Michael Vaughan breaks his right middle finger after being hit by Hampshire's Stuart Clark during Yorkshire's championship match at the Rose Bowl. Vaughan had hit 72 in the first innings, but now risks being out for three to four weeks, a scenario that means he would miss the first two Tests against West Indies.

· Mike Brearley will take over as president of the MCC from Doug Insole on October 1.

· West Indies drop Marlon Samuels for their tour of England, apparently because of his attitude. The team will be led by Ramnaresh Sarwan following the retirement of Brian Lara, while the vice-captaincy has gone to Daren Ganga.

· The county champions Sussex lose by an innings for the second game in succession, this time going down by an innings and 106 to Kent at Canterbury. Lancashire condemn Surrey to their third straight defeat, winning by seven wickets at Old Trafford.

· Younis Khan (or Younus, as he has recently insisted it should be spelled) becomes the first Yorkshire player to score a hundred and a double-hundred in the same match. He also takes career-best figures of 4 for 52 with his leg-breaks, but Hampshire hang on for the draw eight wickets down at the Rose Bowl.

· John Buchanan turns down the chance to coach India, saying he wants to become a "mentor coach" instead [Spin scratches head].

· The England and Gloucestershire seamer Jon Lewis could be out of the game for two to three months because he needs surgery to remove pieces of bone from his left ankle.

· The body of Bob Woolmer is cremated in a private ceremony in Cape Town. The Sunday Times claims he was poisoned by weedkiller after a police source said that high concentrations were found in his stomach and on a glass he had been drinking champagne from.

· England appoint the former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower as their new assistant coach in place of Matthew Maynard, who immediately revealed he had been approached by India to work in their academy.