England A v Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankans are already here and it beggars belief that the build-up for the first Test, which starts on 11 May, is under way. That is the way of today's international schedule. Don't worry too much about the wellbeing of the players - they are getting good wages. Fill those coffers.

The tourists, led by Mahela Jayawardene in the absence of the injured Marvan Atapattu, have three warm-up matches that are progressively - and neatly - more demanding. They play the Combined Universities, Derbyshire and England A before the Test at Lord's.

The fixture against England A at Worcester on 4 May is a minor landmark. It is now established that players will be withdrawn from their county sides to represent England A; it will, therefore, be a team selected purely on merit rather than convenience. (In the past such representative teams trawled county sides who did not have a Championship match.)

So the fixture has more meaning. It gives the players and pundits an insight into how the selectors are thinking. Those selectors will prowl the boundaries and if any young Englishman excels it should enhance his Test prospects significantly. It also allows the hacks to play the selection game, a treat that has been denied us for some time.

In recent years, the England Test team have been so damned settled there has been little point in playful speculation. Also, the advent of central contracts has created a fairly transparent pecking order. And even if some doubts remain, the chairman of selectors, David Graveney, has become adroit at signalling any surprising choices his committee may deliver. All very sensible, but boring.

When I started scribbling, the current president of the MCC, Robin Marlar, was in situ at the Sunday Times and you could be sure that he would deliver an England side to his readers that bore only the vaguest similarity to the one announced later in the day by the selectors. Not possible now.

The A team selections give us a bit of scope. The selectors have to carry out a delicate balancing act. A pecking order of sorts is already established after the A team's tour of the Caribbean and they will not want to disturb that too much, but they should also offer encouragement to the early fliers on the county circuit. The team should be as close to England's second XI as possible without the presence of too many old lags. For example, there is not much point in Shaun Udal playing at Worcester. And, of course, it is important to try to win the match just before Sri Lanka play the first Test. So the side should reflect the prevailing conditions.

In the Caribbean, Vikram Solanki led the A team and by all accounts he did the job capably, but I would give the captaincy to Robert Key. Solanki is 30. Realistically his chances of playing Test cricket are now minimal so there is no point in his taking a slot. In another era, Key would have played many more than 11 Tests. He has scored a Test double century, impressed the Aussies on the last Ashes last tour and has an adequate average of 31 - yet he is not that close to the senior side. It is an indication of England's current strength.

The next three batsmen could well be competing for one Test spot, assuming Michael Vaughan is not fit for Lord's and Paul Collingwood retains his place. This would add a bit of spice to proceedings - and the running between the wickets. They are Alastair Cook, Owais Shah and Ian Bell. Ed Joyce should bat at five while acknowledging that Durham's Gordon Muchall has started the season encouragingly.

Now it gets trickier. Who shadows Andrew Flintoff? Rikki Clarke is favoured to do so ,but remains infuriatingly inconsistent, especially with the ball. Instead I would play Alex Loudon at six and see how his bowling is progressing.

Behind the stumps, I would opt for Chris Read. There may be a lobby for Worcestershire's Steven Davies, who is clearly gifted, but England have been impatient with their keepers without success. They promoted James Foster and Read prematurely to the Test arena and both suffered as a consequence.

Ian Blackwell bats at eight. I'm eager to see how he reacts in a longer game after his nervous and ineffectual Test appearance in Nagpur. My three pace bowlers would be Liam Plunkett, Kabir Ali and Jonathan Lewis.

Which means there are notable absentees: James Anderson I've earmarked for the Test team in Steve Harmison's absence; I've preferred Lewis, who has been lethal in the early season moisture, to Sajid Mahmood, because the game has to be won and I can hear the purists seething at the omission of Monty Panesar.

I would earmark Panesar for the second A team fixture against Pakistan in July. England's major dilemma this May is how to replace Ashley Giles. They will not wish to do so with Panesar, but with someone who can bat at eight. They could assess two possible candidates at Worcester.

Marks' A Team

R Key (Kent, captain), A Cook (Essex), O Shah (Middlesex), I Bell (Warks), E Joyce ( Middlesex), A Loudon (Warks), C Read (Notts), I Blackwell (Somerset), L Plunkett (Durham), Kabir Ali (Worcs), J Lewis (Gloucs).