Cricket World Cup 2015 'offers James Taylor hope of Test recall'
Last updated on .From the section Cricket
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England selector Mick Newell believes Notts batsman James Taylor can use the World Cup as a springboard to revive his Test career.
The 25-year-old played two Tests against South Africa in 2012, with a highest score of only 34.
However, he has shown his ability with four half-centuries in one-day internationals since December.
"He's 24 going on about 47 in terms of his mentality," said Newell, who is also Notts' director of cricket.
"He's very much clued up and knows how and when to grasp his opportunities.
"He played beautifully in Sri Lanka on turning pitches, in a skilful way that many English players don't perhaps have playing against spin bowling, and he has made some contributions in Australia to back that up as well," Newell told BBC Radio Nottingham.
"Test cricket is still there for him in the future. He has the potential. It's a harder team to break in to. He needs to have a strong World Cup and then come back and score heavily in four-day cricket."
Too late to change skippers?
Taylor was given his chance in the one-day side after Alastair Cook was banned in Sri Lanka because of the team's slow over rate.
Cook's poor form with the bat cost him the captaincy just before Christmas, denying him the chance to lead the team at a World Cup, and Eoin Morgan was named as his replacement.
Essex batsman Cook only averaged 27.52 in his last 20 one-dayers and Newell defended the decision to switch skippers only two months before the start of the competition in Australia and New Zealand.
"I don't think we left it too late," he said.
"We obviously wanted it to work with Alastair, but when we got to the stage where Alastair's form was becoming too much of a distraction from the team then we felt the time was right.
"People were calling for the change from earlier, but we were keen to give it the best opportunity to work and when it didn't, we felt the change was necessary."
Turnover of personnel
Long-term planning has benefits in many sports, but Newell does not believe a rapid turnover of personnel in the England team will adversely affect their chances at the World Cup.
"There were some changes that couldn't have been foreseen, which meant some last-minute changes, so players like James Taylor, Gary Ballance and Moeen Ali have come to the fore in the last six or seven months, players who perhaps weren't on the radar," he said.
"I don't think you can plan for this tournament four years out - 12, 15 and 18 months is when you really are starting to look at players you think will be featuring."
He continued: "We should be ready. We have had a long build-up through the winter, the Sri Lankan tour followed by the Australian tri-series and a couple of warm-up matches.
"We have had a focus on one-day cricket for a number of months now and I think we are settling on a team and hopefully a formula that will do well."
A place in the quarter-finals is England's minimum target, which should be achievable with four nations progressing from the seven-team group.
"There are five Test-playing nations including Bangladesh, but you would hope and expect that England would come through and then it is knockout stuff, so who knows," Newell added.
"It's a tough start with Australia in the first game and New Zealand in the second game, but if we can get some early wins it will take some pressure off later in the group."
Mick Newell was talking to BBC Radio Nottingham's Robin Chipperfield.
