Call in the A team to lift England's spirits

English sport has been in a bit of a pickle lately. Don't mention the football. Don't mention the tennis. Don't mention the cricket. Except we have to. So - now that England's senior side is in some serious disarray in all forms of the game, perhaps the A team can help.

To this end the selectors have called in Matthew Hoggard, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell to take on the mighty Pakistanis at Canterbury and hopefully give England a fillip. It will be no mean feat, though: Pakistan are unbeaten in Tests in 2006 and they easily beat Leicestershire in a warm-up last week.

They tinkered around with their opening pairings, such is their wont, but both combinations paid off albeit to differing degrees. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat added 168 first up, then Shoaib Malik opened with Farhat, and although they only put on 38, Malik went on to get a century.

Most ominously of all, though, was the form shown by Danish Kaneria in the third innings. He bagged 4 for 32 and England will be casting concerned eyes on his form when he pitches up at Canterbury tomorrow. They will know, too, that the pitches are only going to turn more and more in his favour as the season wears on.

But Rana Naved-ul-Hasan must wait on a fitness test for his injured groin and Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer has already said that he will miss the first Test which starts at Lord's next Thursday.

Back in the A camp, England first hinted they were beginning to take these games a little more seriously in May when they fielded a strong side against Sri Lanka, who they rolled over in three days. In that match, Liam Plunkett gained some vital practice ahead of the Test series, and Chris Read got the chance to keep his name in the frame, as did Rob Key. It's much the same story here, with Key continuing to lead the side. He's still knocking on the door; in that match at Worcester he posted a solid fifty.

"Our job is to put the touring side on the back foot - which is generally what seems to happen to us every time we go overseas and play A sides," said Key. "It also gives us a chance to stake a claim for the full side. This might be a bit tougher than our first match. I don't think this pitch will be anything like the Worcester one."

The A team also, of course, can act as a springboard for others. Jon Lewis took nine wickets against Sri Lanka and leapt into the Test side for his debut at Trent Bridge.

Stuart Broad was a late entrant to the team for the last A outing (so late, in fact, that he had to have his kitbag redirected from Harrogate). He took three wickets then and so this time he is in the side by right. He's gained great experience over the winter, for the A team in the West Indies, thanks to another last-minute call-up. He hasn't looked back, and he's already being talked about in senior England circles.

Ravi Bopara, another late call-up, has impressed too after joining Broad on the plane to the Caribbean. Both have been flying high ever since and both will now want to soar into contention for the future. Everyone loves it when a plan comes together; so fingers crossed for the A team.

England A Robert Key (capt), Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Owais Shah, Ravinder Bopara, Jamie Dalrymple, Alex Loudon, Chris Read (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Matthew Hoggard

Pakistanis (probable) Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Danish Kaneria