FIRST wicket down is the hardest place to bat. The best exponents of the craft are like outstanding fly halves in rugby: they can control the pace of a game. Against the best bowlers, of course, the No 3 batsman often has no option. It can be a case of sheer survival, until such time as conditions ease or bowlers tire. He must be tough mentally and brave physically, given that nine times out of ten he will come in against fast bowlers who have found their rhythm and are either still fresh or have just gained the impetus that comes from drawing blood for the first time.

It is essential, however, that the pacemaker should not get bogged down for long, scoreless periods. He has to be able to keep the board moving and at the earliest possible time to take the initiative.

Especially in strong sides, the selector surely looks in all the main batting positions for potential match-winners as well as possible match-savers. For this reason I intend to make a swift decision about the best man for the job in the Rest of the World XI. Viv Richards was a champion from head to toe and no one of the past 50 years has imposed his physical presence on opposing bowlers as he did.

From the carefree strokeplayer who first appeared against an England side for Antigua in 1973-74, merrily striking the ball to all parts of what was then almost a village ground in St John's, he developed into a swaggering conqueror. It was the aggression, misplaced for sure, of hard-bitten bowlers from England and Australia in particular that brought out the mahogany hardness of Richards and from quite early in his Test career he batted for the pride of the Afro Caribbean race as much as for himself and his team.

He was a magnificent strokeplayer who hit the ball as hard as anyone ever has and he was merciless, never more so than in that hottest English summer of the 20th century, 1976, when his answer to Tony Greig's suggestion that when West Indies are down they "grovel" was to score 829 runs in seven innings at an average of 118.

To take the place from rivals over almost 50 years who also commonly batted first wicket down, he naturally eliminates many a superb batsmen, not least from the Caribbean, such as the born cricketer and leader Frank Worrell and the inflammably talented Rohan Kanhai. With Brian Lara, they have to hope for a place at four or five. From India, the wristy genius Mohammad Azharuddin; from Australia the shrewd and flinty Ian Chappell and the twinkle-toed prodigy, Neil Harvey; from Pakistan the flowing Zaheer Abbas also have to give way.

In the case of England, it is not easy to decide who, if anyone, has actually been a "specialist" No 3. Since 1953, surprisingly few have stayed in the position for long. I have shortened the list of serious contenders, in the order of their appearance, to Tom Graveney, Ted Dexter, Ken Barrington and David Gower.

Of other fine players who have batted at three for England, Peter May spent most of the earlier part of his Test career there but was even more effective at four, while his great contemporary Col- in Cowdrey, accommodating character that he was, batted often in all the positions between opener and five. That said, he scored a felicitous 160 against India at Leeds in 1959 and memorable hundreds at three in the West Indies in 1967-68. But for those days of introspection, his virtuoso touch against bowling of all types would have been the obvious preference.

Although Graveney played memorable innings of 78 and 96 at three against Australia and West Indies in Lord's Tests, separated by 13 years of a long career, and although he was the favourite batsman of my youth, it has to be admitted that at international level his was a rather mercurial career. The deft leg-side placements and elegant, leaning cover drives, not to mention the little touch of the peak of the cap before resuming his guard, are imperishable in the memory but despite the fact that he batted at three in his most prolific series, against West Indies in 1957, he does not offer the consistency for which, in this of all positions, one is looking.

Both Dexter and Barrington, generally speaking, do but one has to check scorecards to realise how often they both, like Cowdrey, chopped and changed. Dexter's first great innings at three was his 180 in the high-scoring draw against Australia at Old Trafford in 1961. One might have thought that would be sufficient to retain the position for at least the rest of the series.

But Dexter, who had started life for England (like many apprentices) at No 6, batted at five, three and five again in the next three games. As captain in Australia in 1962-63, he started the series at three with scores of 70, 99, 93 and 52 (run out) but Barrington took over with even greater success at first wicket down in the last two games, scoring 63 and 132 not out at Adelaide, and 101 and 94 at Sydney.

Two years later Dexter made the thunderous 70 against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith at Lord's that still glows in the memory. He remained at three for all but one of the home Tests of the 1964 series, but the job was shared between himself, Barrington and John Edrich against New Zealand and South Africa the next year. Back in Australia in 1965-66, it was Edrich who, in Dexter's absence, made a great success of it, compiling hundreds at Melbourne and Sydney. He was the doughtiest and canniest of players, a master at working bowling of all types into gaps, but he is more viewed as an opener.

Since the relatively prosperous era for England batting in the 1950s and 1960s to which the above men belonged, David Steele all too briefly promised to be another Barrington, Mike Gatting played some marvellous innings and in India in 1984 85 was the dominant batsman on either side and Nasser Hussain is still growing in stature, having played an innings on a wet pitch at Christchurch last winter that ranked with the best. But of those who played often at three, Gower is the most serious rival to Cowdrey, Dexter and Barrington in the exalted class required.

He had one prolific series batting first wicket down against Australia in his most glorious summer, 1985, leading England as they regained the Ashes thanks in no small part to his own innings of 166 at Trent Bridge, 215 at Edgbaston and 157 at the Oval. He batted more often at four and five, so if he makes this team it will be in one of those positions.

Dexter or Barrington is a desperately hard decision. Barrington started his career as a brilliant strokeplayer but having single-mindedly devoted himself to succeeding as a Test batsman, he was restrained, much to England's good fortune. He was a wonderful team man and a rock when seas were stormy. Thirteen of his 20 Test hundreds came from first wicket down and a Test average of 58 makes him very hard to omit, not least because he was a genuine leg-spin and googly bowler.

I go for Dexter, however, because he was a wonderful all-round cricketer whose explosive bowling might be needed to break a partnership and because when he put his mind to applying the full imperious quality of his batting, he could dominate any attack. He scored seven of his nine Test hundreds at three, five of them in excess of 170. Against opposition such as that envisaged, there would have been no practising of his golf swing in the covers (where he was brilliant); just a full application of talent and athleticism.