Graham Thorpe, the former England batsman, has called for Monty Panesar to return to the Test team and for Ashley Giles to quit international cricket.

“I’ve been consistent in calling for Monty Panesar to play in this series, but I’d go one further than that and say it’s time for Ashley Giles to quit,” Thorpe said. “He has been a great servant to English cricket, but our thinking and the team just has to move on now.

“Picking him ahead of Panesar has clearly been the wrong decision and Duncan Fletcher [the coach] should have put his hand up and admit his fault. Fletcher insists that they need Giles at No 8 for the balance of the side, but he’s completely ignoring his lack of impact with the ball.

“It’s irrelevant what he gets with the bat at the moment. They may as well play an extra batsman if he cannot take any wickets. One can only hope that Monty Panesar’s confidence is still intact after the way he’s been treated.”

Thorpe also pointed a finger at Andrew Flintoff, the England captain, whom he believes failed to show adequate leadership when the chips were down.

“Andrew Flintoff has clearly been put under too much strain, as we feared before the series started,” Thorpe said. “I thought his direction in the field was OK, but clearly the workload means he is not as effective as a batsman may have been in his stead.

“More importantly, we saw yet again that, come the second innings with the bat, he struggled to make an impact, with a particularly limp shot.”

Michael Vaughan, the Ashes-winning captain, continued his rehabilitation yesterday with another outing for the England Academy XI against Western Australia second XI in Perth. Vaughan batted for 40 minutes and made nine from 21 balls in his second match since undergoing knee surgery during the summer. He also fielded for most of the opposition’s innings.

Owais Shah, of Middlesex, starred for the Academy with 115 from 153 balls, but Western Australia overhauled a total of 226 for six for the loss of four wickets to win with ten balls to spare, despite tidy bowling from Jamie Dalrymple and Chris Tremlett.

9: Runs scored by Michael Vaughan for the England Academy XI yesterday