HOWZAT

If Panesar is indeed dropped, this is the kind of ingratitude only cricket seems able to inflict upon its participants. Bowlers can save the hides of their teams with the bat only for the selectors to remember that they had picked them for their bowling. And Panesar's bowling in Cardiff was certainly nothing special. Nor is there a need for a second spinner at Lord's.

Panesar will step aside with a sympathetic pat on the back. Among those who will understand most is Robert Croft, who once played a part in an equally implausible escape act against South Africa. Croft blocked away for more than three hours on the final day of the Old Trafford Test of 1998 to ensure that England - nine wickets down with the scores level at the end - lived to fight another day. Having narrowly avoided going two down, they came back to win the series. But they did so without any further assistance from Croft.

Perhaps the most bizarre example of an England tailender being lauded for his batting but being dropped anyway was Alan Ward, who received a standing ovation after completing a pair at Leeds in 1976. His second duck lasted 47 minutes during which 46 runs came in a partnership with Tony Greig that briefly raised the possibility of an unlikely victory over West Indies. In the end England fell 56 short but the way Greig was playing, another 47 minutes might have been enough.

Australia to take a risk on Lord's slope

With Brett Lee still unfit and Stuart Clark apparently surplus to requirements, the Australians are set to go into the second Test without any frontline bowler who has played at Lord's before. If it was any other ground, this might not matter, but Lord's has a slope running across the ground that presents a challenge to anyone who has not taken the field there before.

England supporters will be dearly hoping that the slope sends Mitchell Johnson's bowling completely off the radar. Even on the flat of Cardiff he could barely hit the cut strip, so he will have to bowl from the Pavilion End, where the slope drags the ball back into the right-hander, but that it also the end from which Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus might prefer to operate.

On this basis alone, there might be a case for recalling Clark, who was surprisingly left out of the first Test in favour of Hilfenhaus. Clark spent some time with Middlesex in 2004 and 2005 (when he was added to Australia's Ashes squad as cover for Glenn McGrath) and played three championship matches at Lord's, taking 11 wickets.

But Clark is reckoned to have lost his zip and he took little part in Wednesday afternoon's practice session, bowling only briefly and not batting. It looks as though Clark and Lee will have to pass on what they know from the sidelines.

THE LIST: TEN ENGLAND MATCH-SAVERS AGAINST AUSTRALIA

1 Willie Watson (109), Lord's 1953

2 Trevor Bailey (71), Lord's 1953

3 Kevin Pietersen (158), Oval 2005

4 Paul Collingwood (74), Cardiff 2009

5 KS Ranjitsinhji (93), Trent Bridge 1899

6 Denis Compton (103 not out), Adelaide 1947

7 Ted Dexter (180), Edgbaston 1961

8 George Macaulay (76), Leeds 1926

9 Bob Woolmer (149), Oval 1975

10 Derek Randall (115), Perth 1982-83