English cricket caught up in rotation policy debate

Sir Ian Botham

A FIESTY debate has broken out in English cricket over the past few weeks.

As lively as it is, it hasn’t been accompanied by the acrimony that has for so long divided West Indies cricket. England are too successful at present for there to be constant doubts over the captain’s position, regular condemnation of the coach, relentless contempt for the board and disapproval of the selectors.

Yet it is England’s strength and West Indies’ weakness that has indirectly set off the argument over the policy of “rotation” – the resting of key players, mainly fast bowlers, during the current series.

For the third and final Test at Edgbaston, England omitted Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad and replaced them with Graham Onions and Stephen Finn. For the third and final (abandoned) ODI at