Tour in disarray as Trescothick departs

Andrew Flintoff is set to lead England as Marcus Trescothick flies home injured and Michael Vaughan struggles to recover from injury

He flew home in late afternoon and the team coach, Duncan Fletcher, asked simply that the player's privacy be respected. Trescothick's sad and unavoidable loss plunged a troublesome tour into further confusion. He would have led the side in the probable absence of the captain, Michael Vaughan, whose knee injury has shown scant sign of improvement.

Andrew Flintoff, the star all-rounder, will now step into the captaincy breach if Vaughan is also unavailable. Nobody doubts Flintoff's cricketing acumen but the responsibility of high office will place an immeasurable strain on his ability to continue to bowl the most overs, take vital slip catches and occupy the pivotal position of number six while so obviously out of batting form.

What team Flintoff, or anybody else, will lead is pure conjecture. Nine of the squad of 16 have already been laid low with a combination of fevers, viruses and strains. Some are recovering quickly but every time one player has left the casualty list in the past fortnight, another has joined it.

Emergency cover is on its way. Alastair Cook and James Anderson were pulled out of the opening international on England A's tour of the West Indies and, after flying to London, were on their way to Nagpur last night. When Trescothick withdrew, it was decided to send for another batting replacement from the Caribbean. Owais Shah, scorer of a welter of runs in both forms of the game last season and with a reputation for playing spin confidently, assumed the odds-on favourite's position, with his Middlesex colleague, the left-handed Ed Joyce, tucked in behind on evens.

All of these, not to mention the almost incidental matter of the tourists' dreadful batting form which led to an eight-wicket defeat yesterday in the second and final warm-up game, were conspiring against this side's dream of winning on the subcontinent. When England regained the Ashes last summer, it was the greatest achievement of the players' lives. If such a triumph would remain peerless, Vaughan's side still recognised that for their stature to be complete, they had to win either in Pakistan or India, perhaps both, but preferably the latter.

Late last year, on their first outing since the Ashes, they were beaten 2-0 in Pakistan, still trying to assimilate the scale of their magnificent summer deeds. It made success on this tour all the more pressing. Since landing a mere 13 days ago, the back-room staff of doctor, physiotherapist, physiologist, massage therapist and nutritionist have had their skills tested to the limit. When Vaughan's knee forced him to pull out of the match in Baroda, threatening this Test and many beyond, it seemed it could not get worse. When Trescothick departed yesterday, it got worse.

India can be beaten on home soil but their defeats here are as frequent as traffic-free roads. Since 1989 they have played 24 home series, losing three - to Pakistan, South Africa and Australia - and drawing four. This makes them slightly more vulnerable than Australia who, since being beaten by West Indies in 1993 have lost none of their subsequent 24 home series.

In addition, India exude confidence. They were defeated 1-0 in Pakistan last month but came back so well in the one-day series that they appear to have airbrushed that from history. But confidence alone does not win series. Performance does and this England have performed.

A win is possible however only if they have four seam bowlers who are fit and in form. It is a desperate hope, especially as Simon Jones has simply not bowled enough after being forced to miss the final warm-up with fever. But it is not quite forlorn because Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard look in almost perfect order. The contest for the spin-bowling place has been a fascinating diversion, will have an immense bearing on the approach and balance of the side, and is likely to go to Ian Blackwell. But the bulk of the wickets are going to come from the usual origins, pace and swing.

The source of runs is a mystery. There has been insufficient application, a shortcoming which was apparent again yesterday. They came and they went, chopping on, squared up, nicking drives and again had their tail summarily removed by Munaf Patel who took 3 for 0 in eight balls of incisive reverse swing following his 3 for 5 in 10 balls in the first innings and finished with 10 for 91 in the match. At present the majority of the batsmen appear to think that patience is a card game.

That they are so thin on the ground only exaggerates the issue. The likelihood, unless anything more goes wrong, which would seem to be a stone-cold certainty, is that both Vaughan and Trescothick will miss the match and that Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, who have had back strains, will be fit in time. But neither would be an ideal opener or number three and Cook's Test debut is entirely possible. It has reached such an ebb that when the squad's batting coach, Matthew Maynard, had a net yesterday, a case for his inclusion in the Test team, at the age of 39 and with his last Test 13 years ago, was swiftly made and just as swiftly scotched.

Vaughan, in his understated manner, said it was not ideal preparation. His resolve and Fletcher's pragmatism will be vital this week. Fletcher said: "There are a few permutations. It's going to be difficult. We're thinking about it all the time, there are ideas going backwards and forwards. We've got a few days to think about it, but it's coming to a stage where we have no days to think about it and decision time is decision time." Not half.

CASUALTY COUNT

Michael Vaughan: knee injury

Marcus Trescothick: family problem

Kevin Pietersen: back injury

Paul Collingwood: back spasm

Simon Jones: virus

Shaun Udal: stomach

Ian Blackwell: stomach

Monty Panesar: stomach

Matt Prior: stomach

Liam Plunkett: ankle injury