Tuesday 21 April 2015 11:14, UK
Sir Ian Botham believes Jonathan Trott should be left out by England for the second Test against the West Indies, which starts on Tuesday.
Trott suffered a miserable return to Test cricket as he was dismissed for four runs in his two innings as opener in the drawn clash in Antigua.
The 33-year-old was given a vote of confidence by England coach Peter Moores after his failures when he said the Warwickshire batsman had "earned his chance" to return to the Test line-up.
But Botham disagrees and insists Yorkshire opener Adam Lyth should be handed his debut in place of Trott in Grenada.
The Sky Sports commentator said: "I don't see the point in playing Trott at the moment, I'd look to give Adam Lyth a go.
"Lyth has consistently scored runs over the last few years so I'd say he deserves his chance."
The left-handed batsman enjoyed a prolific season for Yorkshire last year, scoring 1,487 runs at an average of 67 and earned the PCA and Cricket Writers' Player of the Year awards as Yorkshire lifted the County Championship title.
Botham also thinks Lyth's Yorkshire team-mate Adil Rashid could be handed his debut in Grenada.
He added: "If we don't give them a chance we are never going to know if they can play at this level.
"England have got a tough 12 months of Test cricket coming up. Two more Tests here, two against New Zealand, and then Australia and later this year, South Africa.
“We've not got time to be experimenting, we've got to give these players a chance."
The former England captain expects fit-again Moeen Ali to replace off-spinner James Tredwell, who took 4-47 in the Antigua Test but injured himself fielding as England chased wickets in an unsuccessful attempt to claim victory.
Botham also feels Rashid could figure in Grenada and believes he would add an extra dimension to Alastair Cook’s bowling attack.
"Ali will play and they may consider picking Rashid if it is a similar pitch to the one in Antigua. You need the variation of a finger spinner and that's what Rashid gives you,” said Botham.
Beefy is backing England to win with Joe Root scoring the most 1st innings runs at 9/1 in his Sky Bet 2nd Test bets.
Watch West Indies v England in the second Test, live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 2.30pm on Tuesday.
