Are Asian cricketers fully integrated in England?

Three of the players left out of England's squad for the tour of South Africa - Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Monty Panesar - have an Asian background. Is that a coincidence, asks Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.

... there may well be a lack of cultural awareness. If Asians are brought up to be deferential towards authority, a player like Panesar will be far more reluctant to question his captain's decisions about field-placing.

Another factor is the soft culture that county cricket is only gradually rectifying. Panesar and Shah were not pushed hard enough to improve their fielding at an early, formative age – and the same could be said for Bopara, who could have been an outstanding fielder by now, the successor to Paul Collingwood.