Whether you are at the County Ground in Taunton or just having a coffee with cricketing friends, the subject of players being selected for their country and what county they play for, has become a common factor, whether it is in the white ball game or the red ball game and how those players adapt writes Merv Colenutt.

Another aspect of our summer game in recent times that has become more focused, is on the changing of a ball during a game and to my mind, that can change the course of a game quite dramatically.

We have certainly seen it happen more in test matches and it now appears to be creeping more into county cricket, more especially when a fielding side is struggling to take wickets during an afternoon session for instance.

Each and everyone of us has their opinions on whether a certain bowler or batsman has the quality and ability to excel at all levels and moving into the final month of the season and new players being brought into the test arena, I still believe that one name from Somerset has never even been mentioned for a call up and that immediately brings me back to the ECB and which counties appear to be looked at first.

I always felt that Dan Lawrence when playing for Essex, had the ability to make a case for playing for England, but I also felt by moving to Surrey at the start of the season had to enhance his chances of playing for his country, surrounded by players who were already part of the England set up.

Make no mistake, Lawrence is a very good player and did ok on his first outing for his country against Sri Lanks with scores of 30 and 34, but England have struggled with opening batsman scoring consistently for several seasons and Lawrence like Ben Duckett get out to balls they could leave outside the off stump, but through lack of front foot movement and wafting at the ball away from their body proves to be their downfall.

My take is that the surprise non selection of Tom Abell is well overdue, he may have given up the captaincy to concentrate on his own game, which I believe has come on leaps and bounds once more, but I also believe his stance at the crease, plays the ball from under his eyeline, is so well balanced, which allows him to play the ball late and his ability to caress the ball through the covers is sheer class.

He also knows where his off stump is and that is hugely important, but the most significant factor is, that he can still play the same shots in both the white ball and red ball games without having to revert to slogging or wafting in the white ball game and to me that stood out in the dismissals of both Lawrence and Ducket who appears to have made the opening spot for England his own for the time being.

It’s now back to county championship cricket and although I expect Surrey to retain their title, I still believe Somerset will prove to be their nearest challengers with Surrey’s bowling attack the key to consistent success once more.