Opportunity knocks

Alastair Cook: made the most of the opening created by Marcus Trescothick's departure © Getty Images

One man's heartache is another man's Test debut. No sooner had Marcus Trescothick left Baroda in tears confronting a personal crisis than Alastair Cook was contemplating the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

Trescothick knows better than most what a fickle game it is. Had it not been for Nick Knight's fragile fingers in 2000, he wouldn't have made such an impact so early.

And what about Andrew Strauss, who debuted at Lord's in 2004 on the back of a previous Michael Vaughan knee injury? He made such a splash that they couldn't leave him out and Vaughan moved down the order to accommodate him.

That is the challenge facing Cook. He's passed his first test with flying colours. But there'll be pressure on him next time and people will expect him to make runs. The Indians have seen him play now and observed his Graeme Smith-like legside preferences.

But this is his chance and it is also England's chance. The Ashes victory was founded on a settled side (they only used 12 players) but that idyll was never going to last. And the absentees from Nagpur could be long-term problems: the injury to Michael Vaughan is serious and recurring; Simon Jones is injury prone; the exact nature of Trescothick's leave is unclear; and there is poor old Gilo, whose hip has been on the blink for a while.

England's quest for back-to-back Ashes wins and, by extension, world domination cannot be built on the forlorn hope that their 11 Ashes heroes will be forever fit.

They need depth and they need it now. Liam Plunkett showed some form in Pakistan and Paul Collingwood seems to be a terminal prove-critics-wrong merchant. But there are few others who have been tried and tested which is why Cook's debut may be such a silver lining in what has so far been a very cloudy tour for England.

England's last tour to India four years ago turned into a similar damage-limitation exercise with Mike Atherton recently retired and three players making themselves unavailable. The result was a 1-0 defeat and lots of gnashing of teeth about Gnasher Hussain's leg-theory tactics.

But in among the recriminations was the subtle emergence of Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard, two Test rookies pressed into yeoman service with the new ball against a stellar batting line-up.

Flintoff did not start delivering performances of substance for a year or more after that tour but he showed character, determination and a degree of skill on that tour. He could not affect the result but he showed both Duncan Fletcher and Hussain that he had the potential to be a top-class player.

Hussain believes that England cricketers learn more about themselves on tours of India than anywhere else.

England learned something about Alastair Cook yesterday and it was all good. Now it is time for Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell to step into the examination room.