McGrath, who has performed admirably, will be asking himself much the same question.As for Key, he has been out of form. Apart from taking runs from some students, his top score in 18 innings was 68 Then, on Thursday he made 140 against Nottinghamshire It was a flat deck, but Key observed the proprieties. Key has a staunch supporter on the selection panel in Rod Marsh, who worked with him at the National Academy. Marsh is a strong ally, and if Duncan Fletcher is also on his side, Key will be retained. If he is jettisoned now, the selectors would be admitting that they spotted wrong.If they are worried about his batting average of 18.77 in 13 innings in Test matches, they might examine precedent. There was another chap, by coincidence, who had 13 innings in his first eight Tests.

By then, he also had one fifty, but his average was only 17.20 The selectors stuck with him. Name of Steve Waugh.The bandwagon to terminate Stewart’s Test career has picked up more passengers in the past four weeks than London Transport after the introduction of congestion charges. Chris Read’s performances in the NatWest Series have marked him out as an obvious successor, who should become an instant one.Read, too, has an influential supporter in Marsh But he is not an automatic choice as heir. Graveney, for instance, regularly mentions Geraint Jones, the Kent wicketkeeper, who was born in Papua New Guinea and brought up in Australia. Doubtless Stewart will be retained, but an opportunity is being missed. Read all about it on Friday.The case of Gough is no less fraught. If Thorpe’s mind is the difficulty, with Gough it is his body.

He has performed wonders to get back to the international arena in the one-day season His bowling has possessed all the gusto and joy of old He can teach the new dogs some tricks. But the knee will surely not withstand five days – which the matches against South Africa are likely to last It may never do so again The attack lacks experience. James Anderson, Richard Johnson and Steve Harmison, let us not forget, have played 10 matches between them. Flintoff’s seaming role could therefore be vital.Johnson’s body has already shown a tendency to revolt against bowling fast, which it has demonstrated throughout his 10 years as a professional.