Read caught in shadow of Stewart

It is perhaps appropriate that for a decade nothing has caused England more hand-wringing than the question of who should be their wicketkeeper. Invariably, this has been along the lines of: "Should it be Alec Stewart?"

The answer can at last be given resoundingly. No, it should not. The reason, if it did not exist before, has been apparent in the three weeks since the one-day side has been assembled. It lies as much in what has been not been noticed as what has.

Chris Read has been a model of polished glovework. He has been neat and compact and he has caught everything coming his way. They are exactly the qualities that you do not spot in a wicketkeeper. But it speaks volumes: if you do not notice him, then he is doing the job properly. That, together with Read's calmly improvised batting, has demonstrated that he is the natural successor to Stewart. Yet the likelihood is that when the one-day team disband - after next Saturday, if they reach the final of the NatWest Series - the selectors will summon Stewart for the Tests against South Africa.

Stewart, 40 last April, is showing no signs yet of giving up, although it is increasingly being suggested that he will finally hang up the international gloves at the end of the summer. The reasons for persevering with him this summer, never convincing, have now been utterly overshadowed.

Read can only sit and wait. He gives every appearance of being relaxed about it, a player sure of his own game. He is unrecognisable now from the callow youth who was first called up to England's Test side in 1999. Stewart was widely written off, Read was his heir. He did not do badly, but he did not do well either, and you noticed him. "I have developed as a player and as person," he said yesterday, while preparing for today's match with Zimbabwe. "I am grateful for having had that opportunity and if I'd never played again I would have settled for the fact that some very good county players have never had a chance. But I have spent the last three years working at my game, trying to become the best in the world, and you want to test yourself against the best."

Obviously, he will not comment on Stewart's future, but he paid obligatory tribute to his past. It is true that Stewart owes England nothing. He has won a record 128 Test caps, is still supremely fit and is almost as good as he used to be. But it is also true that he has appeared in three successive World Cup campaigns that were ultimately wretched, and seven consecutive Ashes losing series. The time has to be right; it should be now.

"I can see now that I probably wasn't ready to play when I did," said Read. "It was fine in the dressing room, Nasser had just been made captain, so it was a new dawn. I don't think I was picked on potential, because I'd performed well for Notts, but I didn't know my own game well enough. You have to find out for yourself that what works for you as you're coming up the ranks might not when you get above a certain level."

He was dropped after three matches, and had a fairly lean tour of South Africa the following winter. There were suspicions, no more, that he had not entirely endeared himself to the then new coach, Duncan Fletcher. Whatever, he was consigned back to the shires.

"It was natural that Duncan's attention should be largely focused on the side, and I was not in the Test team," Read said. "I had to work by myself a lot, which I hadn't been used to, and I can see now that I probably didn't do what I should have done." He speaks highly of Fletcher's influence now - but not many players speak ill of their coach, of course. "He has sown some interesting ideas in my mind."

There is no doubt that Read's recall and subsequent confidence have been at least partly linked to his relationship with Rodney Marsh, the National Academy director and now a selector. In short, Marsh thinks that Read is the best thing around.

Read has found it easier to come back into the team. His brief flirtation with international cricket helped, because this time he knew what to expect. He was more at ease with himself, and immediately more assertive.

Wicketkeepers have had to change. They are expected to adopt an offensive strategy in one-day cricket now. Effectively, this means standing up to bowlers whom usually it would be wiser to take 18 yards back. But standing up denies the batsman liberties. "There are some you can't do it with, clearly," said Read. "It's the skiddy type of bowler you're looking to do it with. Those who get bounce, it's impossible. It's a case of weighing up the situation, of the likely edge against the runs you'll save. One thing I wish would come in is a specially devised piece of headgear on the lines of a baseball pitcher's faceguard. It's difficult with balance wearing a batting helmet; I wonder how little kids who have to wear helmets cope."

In the Forties and Fifties, Godfrey Evans played 91 Tests for England. In the Seventies and early Eighties, Alan Knott played 95, 65 of them successively. For all his longevity, Stewart has never quite made the position his own. In the early years he was competing with Jack Russell, in the latter ones he has been contending with age.

Read has competition from James Foster, Mark Wallace and Matthew Prior. But he looks and sounds the part now. The role was earmarked for him when he was 20 - England's youngest keeper since Gregor MacGregor, who played eight Tests in the early 1890s - but now he has learned his trade.

"I have tried to learn from the Australian method," he said. "I think they have led the way in footwork in the past decade. I try to take the ball on the inside of my body, try to catch the ball out in front of me and let my hands give. I have found my consistency has risen immensely, and I've found myself diving a lot less."

There is a perkiness about Read's style which puts one in mind of Knott. This is his time. Unlike those of the selectors, his hands will not be wringing.