Consistency rules for England's selectors

In the end England's squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka wasn't signed and sealed weeks ago. The selection meeting stretched late into Friday afternoon and Eoin Morgan's 193 proved a deciding factor despite Geoff Miller, the national selector, making it clear that he would prefer players to commit to English cricket rather than the IPL.

It was that decision by Morgan to spend six weeks with Kolkata Knight Riders, and Ravi Bopara twice declining advances from the IPL, that was seemingly going to sway the selectors' minds. However, it has emerged in recent days that Bopara has become a father over the last month so that removes a little of the kudos for turning away from big-money offers.

And then Morgan went and played superbly against the Sri Lankans at Derby, four days after arriving back from India, which made such a strong case that the selectors couldn't ignore him. "Ravi has been getting a lot of runs for Essex, but the controlled innings that Eoin played just gave him the nod," Miller told Sky Sports News. "That innings really just showed us what he is capable of doing. It shows his strength of character."

That mental strength of Morgan, which he showed at the World Cup when he came back from the cold after injury to hit a half-century against Bangladesh, has been enough to outweigh lingering doubts over his preference for the IPL rather than domestic cricket. But Morgan will be spoken to about comments on Thursday that he would have returned to India if not selected for the first Test.

"We understand that situation. We have given them the window to go to the IPL," Miller said. "I will be having a chat to him about what his priorities are. The answer is I am happy about his commitment, but I need to verify that and make him aware of where we're coming from."

However, Morgan's selection follows the recent well-trodden path of rewarding those of who have bided their time in the squad. Morgan was present throughout the Ashes and would have played if any of the main six batsmen had been injured. "Eoin was involved in the winter but didn't get the chance to be involved and came back here with very little four-day cricket," Miller said. "He produced a good-quality innings and showed his character. It was a tight decision, they always are with quality players.

"We are pretty consistent and know which way we are going, but we want to have difficult decisions on selections and this was difficult. Ravi's bowling came into the equation and there are varying reasons. There is the character factor, the quality of play and the consistency. I keep hammering that word and we'll continue to run down that line."

A very disappointed Bopara will now return to Championship cricket and have to wait for an injury or significant loss of form. Morgan will have at least the Sri Lanka series to establish his credentials and most of the other batsmen are coming into the series in decent first-class form. It's hard to see any of them losing touch to such an extent they'll be ditched during the summer, but Kevin Pietersen needs to return to scoring hundreds consistently again.

"Everybody needs runs, we are talking about batters for England," Miller said. "If they are out of form over a period of time then we can reassess it. We know what a quality player Kevin Pietersen is and it's about him going out and getting that form. He got 200 in Australia recently and now it's about being consistent for us and we are giving him that opportunity."

The good news for England is they have some strong back-up options in most departments, especially the pace-bowling ranks where there are at least eight viable options. Steven Finn was preferred this time - again part of the Ashes loyalty - but the quicks could well be rotated during the season.

"It counts that we've got strong back-up to take places if necessary. We're in a situation where we've got a lot of quality seamers," Miller said. "Steven Finn was involved in the start of the Ashes, and then his place was taken by Chris Tremlett - who did really well.

"But that doesn't stop the next in line, the peripheral players, from really working hard to try to overtake if they possibly can. Strength in depth is a massive part of international cricket." As Bopara has found out, though, it takes a long time to move to the head of the pack.