Fancy a Crack at That $1m Twenty20 Game? Sorry, It's Raining

The final chance for England's players to press their claims to compete for $1m £0.5m) a head in the Stanford Challenge in Antigua in November was washed away yesterday when the Twenty20 international against South Africa at Chester-le-Street was abandoned almost 24 hours before the scheduled start.

It has rained incessantly in Chester-le-Street for the past week, Durham's four-day championship match against Nottinghamshire was called off last week without a ball bowled, and pools of water cover the ground. It is the first time a Twenty20 international has been abandoned in England.

That leaves England's thoughts to turn to the 50-over game, and the NatWest series against South Africa which, if the rain ever relents in this monstrous summer, begins at Headingley on Friday, but not before Graeme Swann - one player whose involvement in the Stanford Challenge, the most lucrative one-day game in history, hangs in the balance - reflected with tongue in cheek upon his missed opportunity to make an impression.

Swann's jovial response suggested that England have not succumbed entirely to monetary obsession. "I am the world's worst person with money," he said. "If I got £360,000 after tax, I would probably buy a bright pink Ferrari and waste it all like a stupid Premiership footballer. But I'm gutted that the game is off. I love playing up here and I love Twenty20. My family is from the north-east, so I'm gutted for them too, even Gran, although she can't see too far out on to the pitch. Maybe I just won't tell her the game is off."

As for England's selectors, Swann offered a simple solution for their decision on which players should constitute the final XI. "I suppose they will have to go back to the last Twenty20 game. I can't remember who did well there but I think I got two for 15.

"We have to focus on the one-day series. You can't think about a one-off Twenty20 in a few months' time. It is Kevin Pietersen's first one-day series as captain and everyone wants to make a good impression after the way the New Zealand series finished."

One player whose thoughts are already locked on to the one-day series is Owais Shah. England's 3-1 defeat at home to a weakened New Zealand was a deflating start to the summer and, combined with Pietersen's advent to the captaincy, has forced yet another reassessment of England's one-day strategy. The abandonment of Shah's "finisher" role, at No6, in favor of establishing him at No3, is one of the major shifts of policy.

Shah never felt naturally suited to the finisher role, but for all that against New Zealand he was still one of England's few successes in the series, following up a whirlwind 49 to bring victory at Chester-le-Street with 63 at The Oval and 69 at Lord's as the series was lost. He is therefore a player that Pietersen, in particular, believes is so attuned to the one-day game that he can solve more pressing problems at the top of the order.

"I was desperate to play for England and when the No6 role was up for grabs I was happy to try to make that place my own," Shah said. "But I have batted at three for eight years now at Middlesex so I know exactly what is required in that role. I feel I can do a very good job at three if given that run. It is nice that the captain has backed me to deliver in a key position in the batting order."

It might well be the making of him. Nevertheless, it encapsulates England's uncertainty that a player who continues to be largely overlooked in Test cricket - amid mutterings about a defective technique - has, in the one-day side, now been asked to play the No3 role, habitually filled by the batting greats of the game.

"I don't know if I'm the best batsman in the team," he said. "I think that No4 is the best batsman in our team. But that is probably something that I can strive for. I can look at Kevin Pietersen and challenge myself. If I do get a run and establish myself I will be setting myself the same standards that Kevin sets. And, who knows, maybe one day I will be the best batter in the team. Time will tell. When you go in at six the field is out and the ball is doing a bit less. At three you get more value for your shots if you pierce the field. If you do get in you score quicker compared to batting at six. I have done that to a degree for Middlesex in the past. I want to play the same role for England."

With success at No3 perhaps even that Test place would follow. "I have scored quite a few runs in the first-class game in the past few years but when Michael Vaughan stepped down as captain my timing wasn't great as I hadn't scored that many runs in the four-day game," he said. "I think it all depends how the next six months go for the England Test team."