Blackwell the man for the occasion

Ian Blackwell: time to lay his cards on the table? © Getty Images

It's not the sort of news to fill a touring side with confidence, especially on the eve of a hype-laden trip to the subcontinent. Ashley Giles is looking ever more likely to be ruled out of next month's tour to India, and once again, the threadbare nature of England's spin-bowling resources is being revealed to the world.

When the squad flies out to Mumbai on February 12, the spin department could be in the hands of a trio of rookies with just three Tests and three wickets to their names. If Giles's dodgy hip fails to respond to treatment then Shaun Udal, who made his Test debut at Multan last November in the 19th year of his first-class career, can confidently ink himself in for the first Test at Nagpur on March 1. Who would join him in Giles's absence, however, is less clear-cut.

England selectors have long bemoaned the lack of "mystery" about their spinners, but every tour of the subcontinent throws up another name that makes the world go "who?" Alex Loudon was the rabbit from the hat in Pakistan before Christmas, while Giles's sidekicks on the last tour to India four years ago were Yorkshire's Richard Dawson ... and Gloucestershire's Martyn Ball.

The reason Giles is so revered by the England management is that he is one of the rare few spinners to have seized his opportunity when it was presented. He too was a bit-part nonentity when selected for the Pakistan tour in 2000-01, with just one Test and one (expensive) wicket to his name. Seventeen wickets and one series win later, he had forged himself a niche that he has yet to relinquish.

For every Giles, however, there are three or four Chris Schofields, Jason Browns or Gareth Battys - men who've had the carrot dangled in front of their eyes, but have for a variety of reasons fallen short of the required standards. Batty was the best of these, in so far as he embraced the England team ethic and worked incredibly hard at his game, but in the final analysis, he lacked the key component for success in international cricket. Raw talent.

The current flavour of the month certainly doesn't lack in that department. Northamptonshire's Monty Panesar is acknowledged as one of the best spinners on the county circuit and is the romantic's choice for the final bowling slot, not least because he is in line to become the first Sikh to play for England, and where better than in the land of his forefathers?

But as like-for-like replacements go, Panesar is anything but a Giles clone. His batting and fielding remain susceptible, and though England's tactics have become increasingly bold in recent years, Michael Vaughan has never been anything other than pragmatic in the deployment of his spinners. Panesar is not the pragmatic option. He has a touch of artistry in his veins, and player and employer would learn more if he went off to the Caribbean to tie the West Indians in knots with attacking fields and loopy flighted approaches. At the age of 23, his time will surely come - but perhaps not against Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar.

Instead, Giles's stand-in - if that indeed is what is required - should be the man who has already taken over his one-day role with limited but promising success. Ian Blackwell is a man that England have been keeping a close-but-exasperated eye on for several seasons now. He made his debut at the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, way back in September 2002, and has already been a member of a World Cup squad. But it is only in recent months, with the captaincy of Somerset providing an overdue focus, that he has begun to understand the requirements at the highest level.

Blackwell's promotion could result in yet another English spinner sinking without trace on the subcontinent, but at least England wouldn't die wondering. Duncan Fletcher, ever a coach to back his hunches, has seen something in the man that he likes, and Blackwell's three-wicket burst in the final one-dayer at Rawalpindi last December confirmed the promise that his steady-but-unspectacular left-arm tweakers had been showing all series.

His batting is potentially explosive, even though Shoaib Akhtar exposed his limitations all too readily in one searing spell at Lahore, while his fielding remains a little too sluggish. But at the age of 27 there is little point in treating him with kid gloves any longer. England are in need and Blackwell has a chance to deliver. It is high time he demonstrated, one way or another, what he really is made of.