nought with a caution-to-the-wind century that alone kept him in the team. For three subsequent Tests he held the batting together, only to falter at the MCG. But Hussey, too, would be reluctant to give up of his own accord. In the end that is what selectors are for.

Paul Collingwood may just be coming to the end of the line, too. The statistics are starting to tell an inescapable story of a Test career in decline. Since the middle of last summer, after he was rested for the Bangladesh series, he has scored only 189 runs in 11 innings, including a top score of 82 in the first of that sequence, and at an average of 17.2, against a career average of 40. In this series he totals72 runs in five innings and there comes a point when that is no longer acceptable from a batsman in the top five whatever his credential, potential or value elsewhere.

There is slight mitigation. Between making four in the first innings in Brisbane and 42 in the first at Adelaide, he sat through 180 overs with all but his pads on while others filled their boots and was then required to come in and force the scoring. In Perth he was not alone in finding the pace, bounce and particularly the swing too much. It would be perfectly in keeping for him to make a hundred in Sydney, for he must play there. And if his batting currently looks even more of a struggle than it generally does, then