England Stick With Monty

Monty Panesar looks almost certain to start against Pakistan in tomorrow's second Test, after England released his only serious rival for the spinners' berth, Middlesex's Jamie Dalrymple, from their squad.

The news came as a slight surprise: Dalrymple, a batsman-spinner albeit without the wily whirls of Panesar, was considered as Duncan Fletcher's coach to toughen up England's fragile tail. But, having examined the fast but increasingly dry pitch at Old Trafford, England have decided to stick with Panesar, who could well prove to be a fifth-day match-winner. That leaves them with a straight choice between Lancashire's Sajid Mahmood or Gloucestershire's Jon Lewis for the final seamer's berth.

"Sajid is a bit quicker and he can reverse the ball and it's his home pitch," explained captain Andrew Strauss. "Jon Lewis has shown time and time again the value of putting the ball in the right area so it's the balance between a steady bowler and the guy who can produce something special."

Meanwhile, Strauss also admitted that Andy Flintoff's loss - on the back of injuries to Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Liam Plunkett - has proved a massive setback. "All the indications were that Freddie would be fit. It was a bitter pill to swallow when we heard," added Strauss. "It's a real shame that we are going to be without him for the rest of the series. But the side showed we could play without him at Lord's and we now need to show it for the next three games."

Strauss insisted that England were still good enough to win the second Test - and the series. "History suggests that most matches here go five days and we have to be prepared to play five long, hard days of cricket if we want to get a result," he said. "If we draw on what happened at Lord's and just play a little better in certain areas there is no reason why we can't win the series."