2nd ODI v South Africa

Team news: Bopara has been dropped for Collingwood. KP really doesn't like Bopara, does he?

• KP re-jigs the Test side in such a way that Bopara (who the selectors clearly intended to play) was excluded.
• Next, KP gives Bopara only 2 overs in the first ODI, then takes him off and publicly criticises him for not taking the pace off the ball in the way KP wanted.
• Finally, he drops Bopara and retains Luke Wright, who didn't bat or bowl at Headingley and has yet to really convince anyone about his international calibre.

So much for the most promising English cricketer in the county game...

2.55pm: I'm delighted to see Paul Collingwood back at backward point. I have always thought it was a bit of a waste to have our best infielder at slip, and there is evidence to suggest he isn't the best slipper in the world anyway. A good backward point can be worth a lot of runs (to say nothing of the odd wicket out of nothing) when bowlers like Jimmy Anderson stray.

3.08pm: Stuart Broad continues to revel (4-1-8-3 at the moment) in the new KP era. Like Harmy and Flintoff, he seems to be someone who KP has decided is integral to the team in both forms of the game. In contrast to Ravi Bopara:

• first, he was brought back into the Test team after being dropped the game before;
• second, he was allowed to clear up the SA tail in the first innings of the Oval Test to boost his confidence;
• third, he was given the new ball for the first time in the first ODI.

I get the feeling KP is either "for" or "against " people, and God help you if he is against you. Of course, nobody in English cricket has got in trouble for playing favourites in the last few years, have they?

3.16pm: Good Lord, make that 5-1-9-4. No debates as to whether or not KP is going to take his powerplays in succession today. Shame Anderson had gone at over 5 an over from the other end - and that, I suspect, will be the problem for this new ball pairing. The chances of both of them getting it right on the same day are very low, and when one of them gets it wrong it goes very wrong indeed.

4pm: Doesn't look like the debate over who bats at 7 and bowls the odd over is going to matter much. In other news, this will be the perfect time for Bell to score a quick 50 in the chase to "answer his critics" - notwithstanding the fact that his critics say he can only score when the pressure's off.