Trescothick column: Ignore the pessimists

The ICC Twenty20 World Cup is going to rank alongside the biggest sporting events ever held in England.

Ignore the pessimists who claim that the most shortened form of the professional game has already peaked in terms of popularity.

I believe Twenty20 is going from strength to strength and that the competition next month involving the best players in the world is going to be absolutely huge.

Through television it will be watched by a massive global audience, and it will be a great test as to how well we can stage such a vast event.

The Indian Premier League is immensely popular and the World Cup is going to be an even bigger attraction because it features all the top one-day players from every cricketing nation.

The first thing to say about the England squad, announced last week, is that I'm really glad Paul Collingwood has changed his mind after giving up the captaincy of our one-day side. He is the natural man to lead the team and I'm sure he will do a decent job. I think it would have been a tough decision had the selectors been forced to look elsewhere. Collingwood is a very strong character, who will take the side in the right direction and has the talent to lead from the front with his own performances.

The selection of James Foster as wicketkeeper really took me by surprise, but I think it could turn out to be a very good decision. I reckon he has been picked as much for his keeping as his batting because the man with the gloves in Twenty20 cricket can be a very key figure.

Like Jack Russell before him, Foster is renowned for standing up to the stumps to the quicker bowlers. My only concern is that generally in international cricket you don't see keepers doing that too much because the seam bowlers tend to be that bit quicker than in the domestic game.

Foster surely won't be able to stand up to Freddie Flintoff or James Anderson. If he does it will make for very exciting watching, but he will be taking a big risk of 'wearing one' if the ball lifts unexpectedly.

Having said that, Fossie has been the best English keeper around for a year or so now and has won Essex games with his glove-work, pulling off a couple of stumpings or a couple of brilliant catches standing up.

When he was first picked by England we were looking for a replacement for Alex Stewart and he got into the side very young. While things didn't go smoothly for him, he proved himself to be a really top kid with all the attributes you need to play at international level.

Graham Napier did particularly well in a couple of televised games last year, which set him up for a chance in the IPL. He must be doing something right to be involved in that competition and anyone who can score 158 in a Twenty20 match, as he did for Essex against Sussex at Chelmsford last season, obviously has plenty to offer.

It will be interesting to see how he goes because it is a big step up from county cricket. The bowling will be quicker and he may not get many pitched up.

It was only a matter of time before Rob Key got back into the Twenty20 side. He has probably been the best opening batsman in the format over here and, with his experience, I would expect him to be an important man for England.

Eoin Morgan has done okay in one-day cricket for Middlesex, but he didn't get much chance to shine against Somerset on Monday and I haven't really seen enough of him to make a judgement.

As with their Test Match selection, the selectors have been pretty bold, but it worried me slightly last week to hear the chairman talk about the England team not being a "closed shop" any more.

I believe it should be exactly that. A player should have to produce something really special to break into the squad and I don't think performances in county cricket alone should necessarily be enough because the standard is that much lower.

To play for England a player needs to be producing something a bit different. I sense that the selectors are falling back into old habits by bringing new people in almost for the sake of it. I'm talking more about the Test squad than one day cricket, with the likes of Ian Bell and Steve Harmison currently being overlooked when I consider them to be among our best players.

When England are successful it is generally because the same group of players are kept together simply because their performances in international cricket over a long period demand that is the case. If that is a closed shop then so be it.

Finally this week, a word on Somerset CCC's dramatic eight-wicket Friends Provident Trophy win over Middlesex at Bath on Monday - certainly the most convincing 50-over victory I have even been involved in.

Peter Trego set it up with a devastating spell of swing bowling to help dismiss our opponents for 65 and will be pressing for an England one-day place himself soon if he continues his early season form.

When we set about getting the required runs I predicted it would take us 10 overs. I was way out. We actually did it in 8.3!

Interview: Richard Latham