Is Monty for the future or not?
Will
25-Feb-2013
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Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph suggests that England are sending mixed signals to Monty Panesar, while dampening the myth that Panesar is a genuine No. 11:
In the previous Test, the third against Sri Lanka, Monty Panesar scored 26 off only 28 balls at No 11. Panesar swept Muttiah Muralitharan for four and six, and when he eased Lasith Malinga through midwicket for three you could tell he had spent some of last winter at Darren Lehmann's academy in Adelaide.
Now if England had wanted to integrate Panesar into their side, to give him encourage-ment, to tell him he has a long-term future, they would have promoted him in the first Test - his seventh in all - against Pakistan. And they didn't. Matthew Hoggard batted at No 9, even though he had a right hand with six stitches in it and has passed 20 only three times in his entire career of 55 Tests.
[...]
By typecasting Panesar as a No 11, England have made plain that he is in the Test team on a temporary basis, almost on sufferance, a stand-in for Ashley Giles. Giles is the better cricketer, but the Sky commentary team almost to a man said last week that Panesar is the better bowler. Given some promotion, Panesar could turn into a capable tailender; Giles, after all, reached 20 only once in his first nine Tests.