Consistency

In his comment below this post, Rob argued that the naming of the England squad in Saturday's papers - a story that proved entirely and unsurprisingly accurate - was spin rather than leak. At first I disagreed, and then, after Geoff Miller did his rounds of the radio and TV studios on sunday morning, I began to see his point.

A leak reveals the news, spin accents the parts of it that the spinner wants you to talk about. In making sure that the story was about Trott, Bopara, Key and Ramprakash, Miller was barely challenged on the most extraordinary decision of all - to bat Ian Bell at number three.

You could drive a truck through the stats. Bell has batted three times in this series, scoring 53 [during which he was out three times], 8 and 3 for an average of 21.33; in his last nine Tests his average has dropped from 44.28 to 39.84; he averages 24.60 against Australia; he averages 18.08 against Australia in England; he averages 31 batting at three; has never scored a hundred batting at three; has never scored a hundred without another England player also passing a hundred in the same innings; he made 0 and 0 against Australia at the Oval in the decisive Test of 2005.

'We don't have a concern,' said Miller, loftily, a statement that must put him in a rather exclusive minority. 'We don't pick players who we have a concern about. I'm confident he has got the technique and ability to do a job there'. 

At least they can claim consistency: they consistently pick Ian Bell. 

NB: I have a strange vision of the future in which Bell becomes a kind of new century Ramprakash; eventually discarded by England and playing on and on in county cricket with a beautiful technique and a deal of comfort, opinion of him softening to a rosy glow...