Cricket: Return to test arena peppered with snubs

As the rain pelted down, the forgotten man of English cricket was in a contrastingly sunny mood. Monty Panesar is spending the northern winter in South Africa trying to rediscover some semblance of the talent that not so long ago propelled him to fame, fortune and a seemingly enduring international career.

Had there been any doubts about his unwanted present status they were dispelled last week when England summoned slow bowling cover. It would have been easy to ask Panesar to join them, as he is experienced and on the spot.

Instead, James Tredwell was invited to fly from England and spend possibly as little as a week with the squad.

With the first match of the one-day series abandoned yesterday and the weather not certain to improve before the second match in Centurion, it may be less.

England's reasoning was not wholly convincing. They claimed to want Tredwell because his off-spin would turn the ball away from the South African left-handers, while Panesar's left arm spin would turn it in.

But then again Panesar would turn it away from the right-handers. He tried with some cheeriness to put a brave face on what must have come as another snub.

"Coming here is the start of the process to get back in the England team.

"I don't feel I have been forgotten," Panesar said. "I have an individual responsibility which I must take on my shoulders and that's why I've come here for three months with the Highveld Lions."

Another part of the process was completed when he left Northamptonshire for Sussex. But it will be a long road back.

After playing in the first Ashes test last summer - where his defiant part in a last-wicket stand with James Anderson could be said to have saved both match and series - Panesar was dropped.

He then endured a dire season, with 18 championship wickets at almost 60 runs each, at the end of which he lost his central contract.

This was uncharted territory for Panesar, who had taken so easily to test cricket. His search for essential variations proved hopeless.

"I tried to please everyone," he said. "I got caught in a cycle, instead of just valuing a few people, or one person, and working on a progressive path."

Panesar may be back, but England seem to have indicated that it will not be yet awhile.

- INDEPENDENT