Geraint Jones is England's wicketkeeper

Despite being dropped a couple of months ago in favour of Chris Read, Duncan Fletcher has confirmed that Geraint Jones will be England's wicketkeeper for the first Ashes Test.

At the time, the selectors seemed to indicate that Jones was being dropped as a result of poor form rather than anything more serious. They've had a quick look at Chris Read and given him a chance to make a big claim, but our feeling is that maybe they had always intended for Jones to keep his position for the Ashes.

We tend to agree with them and for much the same reasons given by Duncan Fletcher. Geraint Jones probably is the better batsman. He has extensive experience of Australian conditions, having been brought up there. His back-foot style of play suits Aussie pitches. Finally and most importantly, he has proved himself undaunted by the pressures that come with an Ashes series. This is not to be underestimated. A psychological war is in the offing and weaknesses will be ruthlessly exploited.

Adam Gilchrist's batting turns up

Yesterday we were transported back in time to 2003. Turns out we're still there.

It was painfully familiar: Australia's middle-order breaks England's spirit with ruthless efficiency. Then Adam Gilchrist grinds the broken pieces into powder, before releasing it all into the Fremantle Doctor to be distributed throughout Australia's unforgiving landscape. There are specks of English spirit from Bendigo to Darwin, but there isn't a grain of the stuff in Perth.

On the one hand, Adam Gilchrist's hundred off 57 balls - the second fastest Test century ever - was just kicking a side when it's down. On the other hand it's what sport's all about. It's no good only winning when you've been up against it. You've got to win all the time. No matter what the circumstances. Why give England even a glimmer of hope? Make sure. Gilchrist made sure.

In truth, this might be a misleading flicker of glory from Gilchrist. He hasn't been batting well at all. Much like McGrath, he might increasingly have 'on days' where he shows his talent, but there are an increasing number of off days.

Today would be an 'on day'.

Australia 244 all out and 527-5 declared
England 215 all out and 19-1

Kamran Akmal gets Pakistan home

'Home' being 'a win'. We're not quite sure why we're focusing on Kamran Akmal. Possibly because he's not been having the best time of it. He had a great start to his Test career at a time when just about every international side seemed to be weighed down by wicketkeeper-batsmen, then he really tailed off.

Today he hit 57 not out, alongside Younis Khan, 67 not out, as Pakistan reached their target of 191 with the tail-enders waiting in the wings. Hopefully Kamran Akmal will regain some confidence from this and get a few more runs. We hate to see a player underperforming. What about Matthew Hayden, you say? Well he only overperforms. When you think he's underperforming, that's actually how he SHOULD be.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - a textbook modern wicketkeeper

Keepers have to bat. Keepers have to bat aggressively. If your side have lost early wickets, you come in and counter-attack. If your side is going well, you come in and drive home the advantage.

There was some textbook driving home of the advantage yesterday from Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he spanked, whopped and carted 92 runs off 81 balls. There were 65 balls for the first 50, then he picked up the pace a touch.

This textbook outlining how wicketkeepers should drive home the advantage is quite new and some of the diagrams aren't finished yet, because it's kind of tricky to capture exactly what Mahendra Dhoni does a lot of the time.

Like when he plays shots with both feet off the ground. People who illustrate cricketing textbooks have trouble coming to terms with things like that. They like rigid, wooden cricketers whose bodies describe sharp right-angles when they play shots. They like short hair too.

The only downside to Mahendra Dhoni's innings, as far as we can see, is that he made Sachin Tendulkar look sedate and old. We're not a fan of that.

Take a look at the best cricket books

England v India, third Test at The Oval, day two
India 664 all out (Anil Kumble 110 not out, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 92, Dinesh Karthik 91, Sachin Tendulkar 82, Rahul Dravid 55, VVS Laxman 51, James Anderson 4-182)
England 24-1

Matt Prior to make Test debut

Just over a year ago we launched the Matt Prior for England campaign. We started about four campaigns that week, none of which we felt too strongly about. At least now we can put that one to bed. Matt Prior will make his Test debut behind the stumps on Thursday.

We didn't really think there was much of a decision to be made about England's wicketkeeper. Read and Jones were obviously out, so it was between Prior and Paul Nixon. Paul Nixon performed well during the World Cup, but he's about 53 and has never played a Test. There was simply no point in picking him. You'd just be postponing the real decision and denying someone experience.

Besides, Matt Prior's a better batsman. He's been pretty ordinary when he's played in England one-day games, but he's always been solid for Sussex and more importantly, he was the only batsman other than Kevin Pietersen who could score a run when the A team toured India a few years back.

Doubtless Prior will get the whole summer to prove his worth and meanwhile his rivals will have to continue jostling for position via county cricket. At the end of the season the next player in the queue might be clearer, but hopefully it won't come to that and Matt Prior will have kept impeccably and scored 12 hundreds.

England A win first one-day match against Bangladesh

It's a great day for last year's county season ones to watch. Matt Prior, the exceptional photography subject, hit 84 not out off 72 balls and the giants' representative in English cricket, Will Jefferson, hit 68 off 52 balls. England A won.

Matt Prior's in with more than a decent chance of being England's wicketkeeper next summer. Paul Nixon's essentially a one-day stop-gap and the selectors will be looking longer-term for the Test spot.

Chris Read and Geraint Jones are out of favour, although you never really know what's going on. This leaves Prior, James Foster and Steven Davies to battle it out before the first Test. Foster's not on the A tour, so we'll count him out. So far on this A tour, Matt Prior's actually been given the gloves ahead of Steven Jones, even though both have been playing. Is that a sign?

6 - Adam Gilchrist

He scores lots of runs, very quickly, most of the time. He’s also a wicketkeeper. He’s having a fairly lean time at the minute, but who else would you pick as wicketkeeper for the World All Time XI against the Mars All Time XI? Ridley Jacobs? Get away.