What do you think of Michael Vaughan being unavailable for the India tour?
He is a quality batsman and if he feels his mind is not right there is no point in taking him. Only Michael Vaughan will know how he is feeling and then it’s the selectors call on where he fits in. I can definitely see him coming back in though, if he wants to, as he is a class player. There is no doubt about it as he is such a good batsman. He has been a great asset to English cricket as a batsman and as a captain and I am sure he can still be an asset as a batsman.

When you were assistant coach you saw how the wicketkeeper position was rarely settled. Do you think it is now after Matt Prior’s recent displays?
With the keeper’s position there was always a call for change and England have used four keepers recently. With a big summer approaching, it is time now for the selectors to make their minds up and stick to one.

And is Prior that man?
Matty Prior was very unlucky to be omitted in the first place. He is a quality act so he would be my choice to keep and obviously he is a very destructive batsman as well. He only had one dodgy Test match last time, in Sri Lanka, and even if he does have a poor tour of India they should keep with him. They are not easy places to keep, the sub-continent. It’s like with Alec Stewart, everyone remembers him as a great keeper, but not when he started he wasn’t. He grew into the role through being happy and comfortable in the environment, the surroundings and through being assured of his place. When he was sure of his place his keeping improved until he became a really top keeper. Adam Gilchrist at the start of his career wasn’t a great keeper but he retired as a top keeper. The same can definitely happen to Matt Prior. I think he is a quality keeper. The selectors must decide if they want to take someone for experience or someone who will push Matt Prior and deputize like James Foster or Tim Ambrose. But Matt Prior is the way to go.

Regarding the spinner’s position, Monty Panesar will be sent to Sri Lanka before the India series to help his game. Where are we at with this position? Are there any serious rivals to Monty?
The one person who can push Monty in three years time is Adil Rashid, he is a young leg-spinner with potential who first needs to learn his game. They are looking after him well at Yorkshire and I wouldn’t touch him for now. I think Graeme Swann and Samit Patel are good one-day bowlers but in a Test match when you need to bowl sides out with guys around the bat – that’s a different skill and I am not too sure if they are quite capable of that. They will probably look to play two spinners at some point but it’s matter of who they want that to be – another left-armer or an off-spinner like Graeme Swann. You can’t just pick a side because we are good with four seamers. When Keith Fletcher was coach we went with a seam attack and India picked three spinners and we got hammered. You have to work out the conditions and pick a balanced side.        

How will KP go as skipper in India, where you toured with England in 2006?
He is fortunate enough to have been there before. He knows what to expect from the players and I am sure he will get the best out of them. He is very honest, open and forthright and the guys will know exactly where they stand with him. He is proving to be a very astute leader with his tactical nous and we all know how much he works on his own game. He loves the game, he reads the game and works situations out well and has shown now that he can do that as a captain as well. 

We are seeing the farewell series of Sourav Ganguly. Could the Engl;and series be the last one for Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid?
Like anything it depends on the want of the individual player. They are a very strong unit in India and have quality, dangerous batsmen. It will be a very tough tour. Whether they are slightly on the down I am not too sure but we will find out, maybe even before then against the Australians. One thing is for sure and Harbhajan Singh is going to be tough work with the ball – it’s going to be a great series to watch.

Does the Australia series give India an advantage with England playing catch-up as they will have only had some Twenty20 cricket in Antigua?
There has been a lot of criticism recently about not enough games on tour prior to the first Test match but I don’t agree with that sentiment. I think there is so much international cricket now that rest at times is better for the guys. Half of the challenge is how you prepare mentally for a tour and you can do that at home. It is not all about batting and bowling. The Merlin bowling machine was a great addition to the team’s preparation and I am sure they will have used that at Loughborough beforehand, if they have time that is.

Are you enjoying your role now at Glamorgan?
I am learning all the time about the job and that’s the enjoyable thing about it, you pick things up along the way and think ‘right I won’t do that next time’ or ‘I will do this’. It’s a lot different for preparing teams for international cricket where you have two days prior to a match to have a real full-on, skills-specific practice session. Whereas in county cricket you are going from one game to another and rest is very important. You have to be sensible and selective with the times you practice and cannot practice at every available opportunity.

How much of your England experience and working with Duncan Fletcher is helping you now at Glamorgan?
Quite a bit I would suggest. If I didn’t learn anything off Duncan Fletcher I must be a mug. He is the best coach I have ever seen; brilliant technically, tactically, a good communicator with the squad – I have an enormous amount of time for Duncan and I am still in regular contact with him.

Matthew Maynard was speaking to Richard Sydenham

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