But Pietersen has been missing a lot more than hitting this year, though his most recent innings and his South African history anticipates a big series. Still, he's not done a whole lot to inspire great confidence this year. Then Cook and Vaughan are hardly any better. Neither has scored heavily and the former has looked shaky at times even when he is scoring. Vaughan, on the other hand, looks like a walking wicket against Steyn at times. Bell, for obvious reasons, is not a reliable force. Of that bunch then, it's only Strauss who has done anything to strongly inspire confidence in his batting.
Even if Flintoff replaces Collingwood, what's the point in keeping Broad in? Surely there are better bowlers who can bat as handily. Heck, I'd back even Mascarenhas to do more than Broad has. And the Hampshire man appears very much short of Test class. That's how little an impression Broad has made in my estimation. More so than a question of "Who does Flintoff replace?" it's a question of "Does Broad deserve to be retained? Does Collingwood deserve to be retained?" The answer to both of those questions in "No", and considering that Flintoff is the likeliest person to come into the side for the next Test, you'd think he would logically replace the bowler of the two.
