Twenty20 World Cup / Ralph Ellis / 07 April 2009 /

With 30 names but no captain, England's squad for the Twenty20 World Cup represents the latest chapter in a series of cock-ups by the people who run our cricket teams, writes Ralph Ellis.

After a winter under two different skippers and two different head coaches, England are heading for the Twenty20 World Cup with yet another leadership vacuum. Andrew Strauss has apparently ruled himself out of the tournament, despite the promise he showed in whacking 79 from 61 balls in Barbados. And the ECB have yet to decide if Andy Flower will get the top job permanently or whether somebody else will get the call.

It all underlines the sheer folly of the Kevin Pietersen affair. The one man who is guaranteed his place in the team for every form of the game, from five-day Tests to 20-over bashes, was an entirely logical choice to lead the side. Whatever his personality faults - and they appear to be many and various - nobody could doubt his total commitment to winning, or his desire to bring the rest of the dressing room up to his own standards of professionalism. And having one captain across every competition ensures a consistency of approach.

How is Strauss supposed to command total respect in a dressing room if some of the players wonder whether he should be there? Does dropping out of Twenty20 cricket add doubts about his place in the one-day side? Wouldn't the new captain for the World Cup fancy leading the team in any limited overs games?

The official line from selector Geoff Miller in this morning's papers is that Strauss didn't want to play, but reading between the lines it looks like nobody tried too hard to change his mind. "His game, from all points of view, isn't suited to Twenty20," says Miller. "He accepts that and we accept that. You need to have 11 players on the field who can play that type of game, and he would still be learning about Twenty20 captaincy as well. The team responded well to his leadership in the one-day game, but we didn't perform particularly well in the Twenty20 match in Trinidad."

So that leaves Miller and his mates looking for a replacement, and there aren't many to be found. Pietersen has ruled himself out after the debacle that cost him his job, while Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood have also both said they aren't keen on another stint as skipper.

England are back in the familiar position of looking through the others, who aren't even guaranteed a place in the team, to try to find a leader. Robert Key is the obvious next best for the success his Kent team have enjoyed in Twenty20 cricket, but it's a long time since he played international cricket and his one-day average is a hardly inspiring 10.8. Significantly he's in charge of the MCC side including Michael Vaughan at Lord's on Thursday.

England are as long as [10.0] to win the tournament in their own backyard and it's hardly surprising. India are favourites at [4.3] and that looks sensational value. Their side will all have the experience of improving their game in the IPL, and they've proved the devastating potential offered by the likes of Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. Australia are [5.2] and South Africa [5.7].

Five things you might not know about Robert Key

1. Born in 1979 in East Dulwich in London, dad Trevor was a keen club batsman - but he really inherited his cricket talent from his mum Lynn who played for Kent ladies

2. As a schoolboy he passed ten GCSEs, and played tennis for Kent

3. Two great wicket keepers helped his career - Rodney Marsh during a winter at the Academy in Adelaide and Alec Stewart who gave him a lecture when his weight had ballooned to 16 stone.

4. He got fined £1,250 last year for branding the ECB's pitch inspectors "muppets"

5. He paid his own way - and for his wife and daughter - to go to Australia two years ago for another winter coaching session under Neil Holder, the coach who helped Justin Langer's late development into Test cricket.

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