Same again, but better results

England's selectors have named in unchanged squad for the final Test against New Zealand, meaning the top six get another chance to click as a unit. The most under pressure is Paul Collingwood, although Ian Bell needs a major score too, but in the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James says it's the right way to go although argues for some tweaking to the order.

No, those in situ are England's best top six. The personnel don't need changing but, in my opinion, the order does. Kevin Pietersen and Bell should each slip down a place to No 5 and No 6, and Collingwood be promoted from six to four. Yes, the latter move appears madness because Collingwood is so desperately out of form, but please hear me out.

England's batting tempo is of great concern, and to up it Pietersen requires the freedom of No 5. His second innings at Manchester, reflecting England's overall approach, was freer. But the parameters of shaping the innings at No 4 too often have their shackles. Forever fretting about his technique, Pietersen has been playing like an Englishman. That is not what we want. Once we denounced his South African arrogance; now we should demand its immediate return. Please, KP, bring back the 'flamingo' shot.

In the Sunday Times, Simon Wilde investigates the lack of really fast England bowlers and says the move to block Kolpaks could help unearth some new English quicks.

A straw poll of county captains and coaches produces a collective shake of the head when the question is posed about the depth of young native talent capable of speeds above 90mph. This is hardly surprising, though, when the likes of Hamp-shire and Sussex respectively sign Nantie Hayward and Corey Collymore, former new-ball bowlers with South Africa and West Indies, as Kolpaks. The reliance on foreigners is one problem. Another is that, historically, England have never produced genuinely fast bowlers in anything like the numbers that Australia, South Africa or West Indies have done.

There is also fashion to take account of and there is no doubt that English cricket has fallen a little out of love with speed for speed’s sake. Call it the Harmison Effect, the Durham bowler having tested to destruction the theory that pace alone is enough. This was, of course, a theory propounded by former England coach Duncan Fletcher, who was loath to pick any fast bowler incapable of topping 90mph. How things have changed.