Graveney confident of England fightback
Afp, London
England's chairman of selectors David Graveney insisted Sunday he was confident his side have enough fighting spirit to turn the Ashes Test series around.England are under pressure going into next week's third Test in Perth with hosts Australia holding a 2-0 lead in the five Test series after a surprising victory in Adelaide last week. But Graveney nevertheless remains confident. "We know where we have been under par. The Australians are quite rightly talking a big game and we know we are playing a really tough team. But we have had some success and have great resolve. Everyone has to pull together -- we can turn this around," he told Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme. Whether Monty Panesar will be called up is open to debate amid speculation that captain Andrew Flintoff and coach Duncan Fletcher disagreed over whether he should be called up for the Adelaide Test. Graveney would only say he was comfortable with the selection process. "I was happy to go along with what Duncan and Freddie had decided," he said. "It is not necessarily about which spinner plays or both spinners playing. In the first Test our seam bowling was not on the money. "In the second Test we played really well, scored over 500 runs and everyone knows what happened on Tuesday. "We just had a mad hour with the bat and succumbed to the pressure applied by the number one ranked team in the world. "Perhaps there is the possibility of playing with two spinners in Perth as the wicket is now slow instead of being the quickest in the world." Newspapers reports have claimed skipper Flintoff and coach Fletcher clashed over Panesar's non-selection. But Graveney said: "I'm not going to speculate on Freddie over-ruling Duncan. They would have reached this decision together. Former captain Michael Vaughan is unlikely to figure as he continues his comeback from a knee injury with the Academy side. Graveney added: "Our target is for Michael to be available for one-day games. I know he has fielded all day and did not suffer from a reaction in his knee. But it is unlikely he will feature in these Test matches." Fletcher has been criticised after Panesar, so successful in his first year in Test cricket, was left out of the England team for the first two Tests. Graveney told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "I'm disappointed with the amount of criticism that's been aimed at Duncan solely. "The way that we've organised English cricket is around collective responsibility -- when things go badly, that's a collective responsibility. "The selectors -- Duncan, me and Geoff Miller -- deliver a squad to the coach Duncan and captain Flintoff. "No-one makes a decision on their own. The process has been in place of many tours before, on which we've had a lot of success. "We've got great resolve in this team -- we've had some success, but we now everyone has to pull together."
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