If Michael Vaughan’s knee injury rules him out of the first Test against Pakistan it will be a big blow for England on two counts
They will miss his captaincy, which has been imaginative and intuitive. He’s done a very good job and they will find it tough without him.
The other thing is they will then have to play Ian Bell, who hasn’t made many runs on the tour - and hasn’t looked like making many.
He’s got a lot to prove on this tour and has now been given an opportunity but he didn’t do too well against Australia in the summer and hasn’t started well in Pakistan.
And he’s not alone among the batsmen, who go into the first Test desperately short of practice after playing only two warm-up games.
My view is they don’t have enough practice matches. I’m from the old school, a different generation, and we’d have at least four three-day games on tour.
It’s the modern way now, the players don’t want to be away from home too long, but sooner or later they will get caught - and this might be the time.
Marcus Trescothick's fine, having made a century, but if you add up the total runs the others have made, it isn't much.
I’ve played, coached and watched quite a bit of cricket in Pakistan and the key to succeeding there is occupation of the crease.You have to put runs on the board and play from a position of strength where you can pressure the opposition.
And that’s where England have a problem. If you don’t make runs you lose and England have too many batsmen who are not in form, which doesn’t help build confidence.
Pakistan will fancy bowling at England’s batsmen right now.
They usually have dry pitches that turn and they’ve brought back the leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, who has been in good form in county cricket.
Their coach Bob Woolmer is quite smart. He saw Shane Warne get 40 wickets at under 20 runs apiece in the Ashes, a series he nearly won on his own.
If Australia had had any decent bowlers at the other end - Glenn McGrath was injured for quite a bit of the series - they would have won.
]That’s not to say Pakistan don’t have any problems of their own.
Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is back in their squad for the first time since January but I wouldn’t play him in the Test - he’s far too unpredictable and they have plenty of other seamers.
Their real area of vulnerability is their opening batsmen: I had dinner with Bob recently and he told me they can’t find a couple of openers who will stick around.
They want to play too many shots instead of trying to consolidate.
Another plus for England is our bowlers, who will do a decent job in Pakistan.
I rate the left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, he’s a good pro and will do well bowling over the wicket and pitching it outside leg-stump.
Off-spinner Shaun Udal was a shrewd selection. He's experienced, unflappable and has a good temperament.
He's always got wickets in county cricket and, if he plays, will do a good job in Multan.
The seamers are fine too, but if we don’t make runs we will lose the first Test because the bowling can’t get them out of jail all the time.
The England players are strong mentally. They’ve got good characters and have got themselves out of tough situations before.
But in this first Test I’ll be holding my breath because I think Pakistan have a slight edge.
If we get through it without losing we’ll be all right but we’re going in a bit rusty and under prepared.
** I don’t think we go in as favourites - not by a long way.**