Strauss wise to skip Bangladesh tour

Andrew Strauss's decision to skip the Bangladesh tour raised a few eyebrows, but he has a firm backer in Mike Selvey, who writes that the decision is justified after an exhausting year. He also backs Alastair Cook's appointment in the interim. Read on in the Guardian.

He is jaded: not close to cracking up, but sufficiently so to lend an impression that the calm common sense that characterises him could give way to a simmering anger at the slightest thing. Only in his first innings of the series, when he trail-blazed the forthright approach he wished his side to follow and in so doing pretty much put the lid on the career of Makhaya Ntini, was he approaching his best.

In the Times, Michael Atherton disagrees and says that Strauss should not be resting, He also shares his views on the Test squad.

The selectors have been following Tredwell for a while now but his selection means England have two off spinners and that is not ideal. By all accounts Tredwell has really impressed in the nets and has looked dangerous, but from a captain's perspective it leaves England short of variety.