Time England selectors played fair with Yorkshire quick bowler...

PROVIDED Chris Silverwood is fit in time, England's selectors should end the uncertainty over his future at their meeting today and pick him for the third Test against Australia which starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

They should state that he will definitely play rather than be included in the squad and then discarded as happened in the last Test at Lord's - and not for the first time over the past few years.

The time has come for England to give Silverwood (pictured above) a fair crack of the whip and to see if he really is up to Test status. To do that means playing him as soon as he has recovered from his back problem, whether that be next week or at Headingley in mid-August.

All too often, Silverwood has looked like establishing himself as a regular England bowler only to be either dropped or to miss out through some unfortunate injury.

This season he is bowling as quickly as ever and for several weeks he has been one of the country's leading performers in the Championship but it seemed to take England until the Lord's Test to wake up to the fact.

Silverwood could not conceal his delight while warming up with his Yorkshire colleagues at Scarborough when he heard the news that he was in the squad but a couple of days later joy was turned to despair at being told to pack his bags and leave Lord's because he would not be wanted in the side.

This latest setback could have adversely affected Silverwood's form but he showed in the day-night match against Warwickshire Bears on Monday that it had only served to make him try even harder.

He was really on song as he steamed in down the slope from the Kirkstall Lane end and before Warwickshire knew what had hit them he had grabbed three wickets for one run in his first 13 balls.

With Steven Kirby backing him to the hilt at the other end, Warwickshire slumped to 12 for six and were soon bowled out for 59, Silverwood returning the excellent figures of four for 21 in eight overs.

A back strain kept him out of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy quarter final tie against the same opponents on Wednesday and to say he was sorely missed is an understatement, even though Yorkshire's batsmen were more to blame than their bowlers for Warwickshire's revenge.

The fact remains, however, that neither Darren Gough nor Kirby got a wicket with the new ball, yet it is hard to imagine that Silverwood would not have broken through in his present form.

With England desperate for an injection of fresh bowlers after heavy defeats at Edgbaston and Lord's the temptation will be to bring in some new faces but Silverwood should not be left out if it comes to choosing between him or either of the Surrey pair of Martin Bicknell and Alex Tudor.

If Evening Press columnist Silverwood makes it at Trent Bridge then it will take him a step nearer to achieving his lifelong ambition of playing in a Test match against Australia on his home ground of Headingley.

And nothing would thrill the sell-out crowd more than to see Silverwood, arms pumping and chest out, running in and flattening Aussie stumps.