Ealham debuts at the expense of Nick Knight, whose fractured finger continues to keep him out of the side. But the more interest- ing selection - bold, some would call it - for the third Test is that of Ian Salisbury. The Sussex player, who was last seen in action at Lord's against South Africa in 1994, has earned a recall despite the fact that he hardly ranks with Shane Warne, Mushtaq Ahmed or even Anil Kumble as a turner of the ball.

``Let us see if Salisbury can bowl out Test sides,'' says chairman of selectors Raymond Illingworth, who is scheduled to step down in September after helping to choose the England squad for its winter tour of Zimbabwe and New Zealand. ``We want to win the third Test, just because we are 1-0 up does not mean that we can relax.''

Of course not. But is Salisbury the bowler to put panic into the hearts of the Indian batsmen? Most likely not - after all, the leggie was singularly unimpressive when he toured India under Graham Gooch in 1993, playing the first two Tests and failing to make any sort of impression on the spin-happy Indian batsmen despite playing on real turners at both Delhi and Madras.

In the event, Salisbury comes in to the squad at the expense of Peter Martin. Again, one wonders at the move - Martin was arguably the most on-target of England bowlers at Lord's. Add to that the fact that he carried his nightwatchman role in the England second innings right through to lunchtime on the last day and was instrumental, at a time when Srinath and Prasad were running riot, in keeping one end going and thus denying India a possible victory, and Martin has cause to feel himself ill-used.

But then, the selectorial axe, like lightning, is famed for striking at will - and, as in this instance, falling on the head of the most unwary.