An age-old problem for England

It says something about the disarray in which England find themselves that, just days before they depart for the World T20, they are likely to go into Tuesday's game against West Indies with a new captain, two debutants in this format and a man who has not played a T20 match at any level for more than three years. What should have been the culmination of two years of planning is instead being thrown together at the last minute.

To some extent, they have been unfortunate. Certainly the injuries to Stuart Broad and Joe Root should be viewed that way.

But England are not the only side beset by injuries. West Indies, to take one example, are without Kieron Pollard and Kemar Roach. The whole point of picking a squad of players is to cover for such eventualities.

So it is intriguing that England have called Ian Bell into their T20 squad. As a decent player of spin with experience around the world and a wide range of strokes, it is a selection that makes sense. But it does beg the question: if England rate him so highly, why have they not picked him in T20 cricket for the last three years? Indeed, why did they not include him in their 30-man preliminary squad for the World T20?

Bell could yet end up as captain. Broad is expected to have recovered in time for Bangladesh but, when an injury requires a fourth injection, it becomes clear there is a long-standing problem. Meanwhile Eoin Morgan's knee is taking longer to improve than was anticipated and there is a growing concern that, despite the player's protestations, it may be more serious than originally thought.

More than that, though, England have been confronted with a perennial problem: their batsmen do not play spin well. It is not a new problem but, until there is a fundamental change in the way in which spin bowling is viewed at every level of recreational and domestic cricket in England, it is a problem which will go unsolved.

Until it is accepted that England are putting themselves at a disadvantage to other nations by taking an unnecessarily hard-line on unorthodox actions - see the example of Maurice Holmes - and penalising counties (such as Hampshire in July 2011) who prepare turning pitches, developing English players will not have the chance to develop their games against the turning ball and will go into international cricket unprepared.

Such solutions require long-term action. But Graham Thorpe, England's batting coach on this tour, has to work in the short-term. He has, in a couple of days, to transform a team that played spin like novices into one that can compete in Bangladesh. It is an almost impossible task.

It was telling that the players were given a day off on Monday. While Thorpe and the other coaches could have been forgiven for ranting at the team after a wretched display of batting on Sunday, they have instead attempted to restore their battered confidence and encouraged them to unwind on the beach or the golf course. In truth, it is too late to do anything else.

"It's about remaining upbeat and confident," Thorpe said. "We want the guys to be positive. We need to be positive in our play if we are going to do well in the World T20.

"We're certainly not going to panic, but we're not going to stand here and say we played spin well on Sunday. We didn't.

"That was a poor day with the bat. But let's give ourselves a bit more time and look to select better when we go for those big shots.

"We mustn't fret about it. We must just improve. We have to identify those players who are capable of going to Bangladesh and actually having a gameplan and the skill to be able to perform. We have to be bold; we have to hit boundaries and be able to manoeuvre the ball around against quality spinners; maybe bowlers we don't read as well.

"We don't face a lot of spin. We don't have heaps of it in county cricket. In terms of our development of playing it, it is harder when you don't face much of it in the domestic game. We have trips abroad with the programmes that have existed beneath, but the fact is the volume they play against is limited to playing with an international side travelling to the subcontinent. It is always going to be an issue.

"It took me a while, until I was 27 years old, until I had a real understanding of the method of playing spin. And that was in Test cricket when we had time to pad a few away."

One potential solution would be to allow England players to appear in the IPL. While Thorpe agreed that exposing players to different pitches and bowlers might be beneficial - "It would do them no harm. The more T20 cricket you play the better you are going to get at it" - there is the consideration of what it might do to England's overall cricket.

The English domestic game has already been weakened by the absence of quality overseas players, the best England players and even Kolpak and other experienced cricketers. Allowing more of them to play in a foreign domestic league during the home season would seem a perverse method of improvement, surely causing as much damage as good.

A change of team is inevitable ahead of the second match in the series. The spinners Moeen Ali and Steven Parry are both likely to return, with Broad out injured and Luke Wright clinging to his place by the skin of his teeth. He has failed to reach double-figures in his last eight international innings and has looked at sea against spin. Ben Stokes is not certain to survive, either, underlining that fact that, with only days to go before the tournament, England have yet to find a settled team.

"I think we misread the pitch in terms of the spin option," Thorpe admitted. "I think we received 10 overs of spin and lost 6 for 46, so we will have to look at that selection for the next game.

"Luke hasn't scored as many runs as he would have liked. So we have to help him through that period. We have to keep him confident.

"We come back to the fact we have four games to go before the World T20 and I couldn't tell you what the batting line up is going to be. We must work out which personnel are going to fit into the slots. In the next four games, we hope it will become clearer and players will stand up and perform.

"At the T20 World Cup, we have a puncher's chance if we get things right. I think that's realistic. If we can get through that group we've done very well. We will only do that by being bold and upbeat about our performances and not getting too down when we do get beat."

England will travel, it seems, more in hope than expectation.