Solanki is wristy unlike other England batsmen

Five years and 40 games after his one-day International debut, Vikram Solanki remains in a state of uncertainty around the England team.

Duncan Fletcher is usually quick to assess a player, but Solanki must have the coach in two minds. The absence of Michael Vaughan for the Pakistan series presents another chance to convince.

Vaughan will undergo a keyhole operation on Friday to assess the cartilage trouble in his right knee. Ian Bell will rival Solanki for the vacancy on Saturday in the first one-day match here, but more candidates will emerge if Fletcher wants a pinch-hitter in the top three.

Solanki found a new incarnation as supersub in the NatWest Challenge against Australia last season. He found the experience “strange and unpredictable” and agrees with Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, and Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, that games would be fairer if the substitute could be identified from within the 12 after the toss.

Fletcher has bemoaned the scarcity of “wristy” England batsmen, but Solanki, who fits that bill, has been less effective in the middle order with the task of working the ball into spaces. In the top three, he averages 28.45 from 23 innings, but that figure is halved in ten innings at No.4, No.5 and No.6 combined.

The pitches for the five ODIs are likely to be flat and slow and the 11 am starts (6 am in Britain) will remove difficulties caused by dew. Any batsman emerging from his first few overs to become accustomed to the easy pace ought to prosper. But when the initial burst is delivered by Shoaib Akhtar, survival is no small task.

Shoaib was identified by Vaughan as the difference between the teams in the Test series and his career record in the shorter format is more impressive. He has taken 192 wickets in 125 ODIs at an average of 23.44 and an exceptional strike-rate of a wicket every 30.53 balls.

To put this into perspective, only three bowlers with a better strike-rate have taken more ODI wickets: Brett Lee, Saqlain Mushtaq and Waqar Younis.

The leading England bowler, stretching back to the inaugural game in 1970-71, is James Anderson, with a figure of 32.2. Anderson, though, is slipping from favour.