England's One Day Side: The Middle Order

Now that England's one-day series against Bangladesh has been decided (despite the third match taking place this Friday), the nations once ridiculed side is now looking like a professional outfit.

The omission of key players such as captain Andrew Strauss and premier bowler James Anderson has given opportunity to others to stake a claim ahead of the World Cup in 2011.

However these new candidates to be on the plane to India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will no doubt pose the selectors no end of new problems.

The Middle Order

When asked, many England fans would probably say that their sides middle order in the 50-over format of the game is now set in stone.

Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan have all staked a claim that they should be in England's first-choice middle order, and most cricket followers would struggle to argue against their inclusion.

Dublin-born Morgan is now seen as the first name on any England limited overs team sheet. His fantastic timing and power mixed in with some audacious reverse sweeps and cheeky flicks mean that he is the perfect modern-day 50 overs batsman. His match winning innings in the 2nd ODI was one of the all time greats, with the huge six over the leg side to finish the game a fine example of what he is all about.

Collingwood has also cemented his place in the side due to him mixing his raw talent and grit with a consistency, that was majorly lacking in his early international career. Add to that his fantastic fielding and more than useful medium pace and Colly rates up there as one of the top one-day players in the world.

The case of Pietersen is an entirely different one. Ever since he returned from the Achilles injury that ruled him out of the final three Ashes tests he has looked an entirely different batsman, one who is deprived of confidence and the swagger that used to accompany him whenever he was at the crease. Despite looking like he might be back to his best in the recent Twenty20 games in the United Arab Emirates, his total lack of form in both South Africa and now in Bangladesh must have the selectors scratching their heads.

So who else is there who could either replace or deputise for these three. Many of the other options are from the "Been there, tried them, dispensed with" school, with Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara and Robert Key being the most obvious names. Bopara's well documented Ashes failure has meant he has fallen of the radar, whilst even a match winning knock against South Africa in the Champion's Trophy wasn't enough to save Shah from the chop. Key, on the other hand, hasn't been given much of an opportunity to impress for the Three Lions, with his only match since 2005 being that infamous defeat to The Netherlands at Lords last summer.

So if not the tried and tested, who else is there to possibly take up the mantle. Current Lions and Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale did not cover himself in glory during the Lions' recent winter tour, and would have to play out of his skin to get a seat on the plane. However, Leicestershire's 20-year old James Taylor did have a productive tour, and after an excellent 2009, a good summer could see him banging on the door.