Kerrigan selection caps Panesar downfall

England

Lancashire head coach Peter Moores believes England new boy Simon Kerrigan will revel in the chance to face Australia if he is selected for the fifth and final Ashes Test this week.

Former England coach Peter Moores has welcomed the uncapped Simon Kerrigan's inclusion on the squad for the fifth and final Ashes Test, which will get underway at The Oval in London on Wednesday.

Left-arm spinner Kerrigan has graduated to the international fold on the back of an outstanding 2013 County Championship Division Two campaign, clinching 47 wickets in 10 matches at the impressive average of 20.23.

"He has loved bowling in tough situations, he is really always wanted to take on the best players and I think that's what you need to go to that next level," Moores, who coaches Kerrigan at county level, told <i>Sky Sports News</i>.

"I think he'll love the challenge if he gets the opportunity. It's a fantastic Test match to play in if he does get the chance at The Oval. He is a left-arm spinner not an off-spinner, so it goes away from the right-hand batsman so that's different in its own right.

"What he does is he spins it hard, not dissimilar to Graeme Swann in that respect. Graeme does give the ball a heck of a rip and gets turn on almost any surface and Simon's similar, he spins the ball very hard, he's an aggressive attacking spinner."

While the 24-year-old Kerrigan has been named in the 14-man squad ahead of fellow slow bowler Monty Panesar, who was recently fined for urinating on a security guard in Brighton, his position in the playing XI remains in the balance.

England, who sport an unassailable three-nil lead in the five-fixture affair on the back of a 14-run win at Trent Bridge, 347-run victory at Lord's, rain-affected draw at Old Trafford and 74-run triumph at Chester-le-Street, are not likely to rest the in-form Swann.

"Monty has obviously had an interesting season and also an interesting few weeks and I think the one thing you would say is that Simon has statistically performed much better than Monty has this season, so that's probably why he's got his recognition as much as anything else," added Moores.

"The key here is Simon's earned that right through his own performance and what he does do is get a lot of five-wicket hauls. So when he gets on a roll he seems to really be able to drive that home and make a big difference in a game and that's something I think would excite England."

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