In a week during which British cricket writers have had to change their job description to "Andrew Flintoff's ankle correspondents", it has been rumoured that England have actually won a one-day series. Since most of the team alleged to have taken part in this collective sleight of hand flew off on Sunday to South Africa, the Spin has been unable to confirm the whisper. But it hopes now that the joy of victory - real or imagined - will translate into something substantial at the ICC World International Cricket Council Twenty20 World Championships (ICC) which begins this afternoon when South Africa play West Indies at Johannesburg.
England, you will recall, do not have a particularly good record in Twenty20 cricket: played six, won two. To give themselves a chance over the next fortnight, they have drafted in specialists from the murky world of the county game. And yet only two of Darren Maddy, Jeremy Snape, Chris Schofield, James Kirtley and Vikram Solanki are likely to start against Zimbabwe (Luke Wright now inhabits a category of his own). It is not they who are likely to make the difference. No, the Spin believes that England must sort out their opening pairing if they are to do more than beat Zimbabwe and then flounder in the second group stage.
Harsh decisions will have to be made, but Peter Moores has already demonstrated a streak of pragmatism by removing Alastair Cook from Zaheer Khan's firing line at Lord's. He allied that with a dash of adventure by replacing him with Wright, who must now stay put. No matter that he was out second ball - his crime was nothing more than over-eagerness: Wright can hit the ball as hard as anyone in the team and he will be an unknown quantity to the opposition. His 39-ball 50 in trying circumstances at The Oval revealed the boy has cojones.
His opening partner, however, must not be his Sussex team-mate Matt Prior. He has opened in 20 of his 22 one-day internationals and made 50 just once. This would be understandable if his strike-rate were touching 100. But it is less than 73. Prior's torment should be ended with a move to No8.
And his replacement? Step forward Owais Shah, a man who has batted in every position from No3-7 in England's one-day team, but has never been given a run of more than four successive innings in the same slot. Yet as his overlooked hundred at The Oval demonstrated, he is far classier than a utility man.
Earlier in the summer, the Spin asked his Middlesex captain, Ed Smith, about Shah. Here is what he said: "The word talented is used a lot and misused, but Owais really is talented. He's the biggest wicket in domestic one-day cricket, not just at Middlesex, but probably in the country. Whenever he's at the crease, you're always in the game. He's become much more analytical about things like scoring angles, and he does hit the ball in unusual places. He also has a power game, which some people haven't seen yet. He hit a phenomenal number of sixes in the Twenty20 two years ago, when I opened the batting with him. He's got touch too."
Even when you take account of the fact that this is one team-mate talking about another, this is some eulogy. In 2005, the summer Smith was referring to, Shah scored 410 runs from the top of the order at an average of 58 and a strike-rate of 159. If England are serious about tapping into the Twenty20 expertise gathered in county cricket, why not allow him to play in his favoured position? No one else in the squad possesses his credentials: Kevin Pietersen is too precious to go in straight away, Paul Collingwood is increasingly masterful in the middle overs, and Flintoff can still be an old-ball destroyer. Wright and Shah could just be the surprise package of the competition.
The Spin's XI for the game against Zimbabwe on Thursday: 1 Luke Wright, 2 Owais Shah, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood (capt), 5 Darren Maddy, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 8 Matt Prior (wkt), 9 Jeremy Snape, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Jimmy Anderson.
Extract taken from The Spin - Lawrence Booth's weekly take on the world of cricket. Subscribe now - it's free
