Jonathan Agnew column

By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent

Forsaking the experience of Graham Thorpe for the youth of Kevin Pietersen is a brave gamble by the England selectors.

England selectors have shown great faith in selecting Pietersen

The whole cricket community has been split over the issue of Thorpe v Pietersen, and I find it hard to believe that the selectors were unanimous.

I think one of them has taken a big, deep breath and decided to be persuaded by the case made for Pietersen.

It would not have been an easy choice to make.

The selectors would have approached it very cautiously, but I think they want to be seen as bold and forward-thinking rather than traditional and nervous.

I expected the selectors to go for Thorpe, and they could easily have made what would have been seen as the safest choice.

Thorpe has had a bad back, but fitness had nothing to do with this decision.

England drop Thorpe for Pietersen

It came down to the belief that Pietersen can offer something different and I think Thorpe has more or less come to the natural end of his England career.

He has been a brilliant servant, but even if Pietersen struggles and England lose a couple of Tests I'm not sure England will go back to him.

Pietersen has shown he has the temperament for the big occasion. He has stood up in intense situations several times in one-day cricket and performed well.

There will be critics looking at England's middle-order and wishing for Thorpe

His knock in the last one-dayer at The Oval was timely and crucial because it showed he could alter his game and bat for a period of time under pressure. Had he failed, I suspect he would not have made the Test squad.

There are two questions that hang over Pietersen's head.

First, can he translate his form into the vastly different arena of Test cricket?

There is more time in Tests for the opposition to suss out your weaknesses, to wind you up, to goad you, to frustrate you. Australia are expert in this field.

Second, it remains to be seen if his technique is good enough and I do have reservations over this.

He goes after the ball very hard, and when you're either playing the new ball or Shane Warne you need to be very careful of that.

Pietersen's technique will be tested to the full by Australia

And because of his tendency to do that, he is almost walking as he is playing his shot. What this does is bring his right leg through and squares him up as he makes contact with the ball.

Against Glenn McGrath or Brett Lee, with the ball moving away, that brings the slip cordon into the equation and could get you into trouble.

I'm sure England management will tell Pietersen to go out there and play his natural game, as they do with Andrew Flintoff.

With Flintoff now an experienced and settled member of the team, he has learned that aggression is not always the way. And that is why he is a fine batsman.

Flintoff assesses the situation and that is what Pietersen will now have to do against Australia. He simply cannot try to bang every ball for four.

Pietersen is an incredibly confident cricketer, almost brash.

He will stroll into the team at Lord's with his dyed hair on Test debut believing that Australia are there for the taking, and he will relay that message to his team-mates.

There will be people in the dressing room who will respond to that and think it's great, but there will be one or two who won't think very much of it.

With Michael Vaughan at three, Ian Bell at four, Pietersen at five and Flintoff at six, there will be critics looking at that middle-order and wishing for Thorpe.

Not least, the Australians will look at it and think they could knock England over cheaply if they get through the top-order for only a few runs.

But Bell has shown he is a fine player, and Pietersen now has the chance to do the same. In leapfrogging Thorpe, he has effectively been given a shot at all five Tests.

It's an immense leap of faith and the England selectors are convinced he is up to it, but there will be no place to hide against the best team in the world.