Why half the England team should be axed

Shropshire Star Assistant Editor Carl Jones was in Jamaica to witness the England cricket team's embarrassing defeat against the West Indies last week. On the eve of the second Test, he believes it's time for wholesale changes.

England's shambolic cricketing display in Jamaica should be viewed as a blessing in disguise - the perfect excuse to make wholesale changes for the second Test against the West Indies, which starts in Antigua tomorrow.

Ineffective spinner Monty Panesar and unpredictable paceman Steve Harmison should be replaced by Graeme Swann and James Anderson to breathe fresh life into an attack which looked tired and bereft of ideas at Sabina Park.

The batting line-up should be brightened up by bringing in Owais Shah in place of under-performing Ian Bell, and promising youngster Adil Rashid should take the place of Paul Collingwood - one of several centrally contracted players who have overstayed their welcome in last-chance saloon.

After such an embarrassing low as Jamaica, what have England got to lose?

Talk on the terraces at Kingston was that Andrew Strauss' side displayed an air of complacency against a West Indies team they were expecting to beat fairly comfortably.

It also appeared that the Indian Premier League auction, which has presented star names such as Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff with life changing amounts of money for just a few days of work, proved sufficient distraction to take their eyes off the ball.

But in exciting 20-year-old Rashid, an inventive leg spinner and decent batsman, they have a young talent eager to prove himself on the big stage. And in Shah they have a man in form who deserves the same sort of prolonged run in the team afforded to Bell and Collingwood.

As for Harmison and Panesar - well, everyone agrees the paceman will get little out of the traditionally flat Antigua wicket, and Panesar showed none of the variation and guile which made West Indian spinning giant Sulieman Benn such a success. It's time for him to go back to his county and experiment with some new ideas.

Opening batsman Alistair Cook should consider himself very lucky - the absence of a genuine replacement in the England tour party is probably the only reason his place is safe for the time being.

But a continuation of his run drought will add further weight to the views of legends such as West Indies bowling hero Michael Holding who believes Michael Vaughan should be walking out with Strauss to open England's innings.

The scenes in Kingston following the West Indies' first Test victory were unforgettable. Whole families turned out to joyfully celebrate the rebirth of Caribbean cricket, and erase the memories of their humiliation on the very same ground in 2004. What England would give for a similar dose of passion, energy and excitement tomorrow morning.