Glove's labours lost

Trescothick is used to diving around in the field

After Marcus Trescothick's wicket-keeping debut for England, BBC Sport Online wonders whether this was a one-off or a hint of things to come.

As opening batsman and heir apparent to the England captaincy, Marcus Trescothick would appear to have enough on his plate.

But when James Foster was taken ill before the third one-day international in India, it was Trescothick who was handed the wicket-keeping gloves.

At least he take on the job completely cold as the selectors had clearly planned for such an eventuality by giving him time behind the stumps in their warm-up game for the one-day series.

When a chance came his way from the edge of Virender Sehwag's bat, however, he failed to take it.

So how viable is it to field an occasional keeper in an important game?

Gloucestershire skipper Mark Alleyne is one man who knows, having kept for England in Potchefstroom two years ago before the one-dayers against South Africa and Zimbabwe, and in Sri Lanka last winter.

Trescothick waits as Sehwag plays an off drive

He also stood in as a replacement when Rob Turner was taken ill ahead of England A's three-day match against Bangladesh A in Chittagong in 1999.

That match could be used as an example of why it is unfair to ask a non-regular wicket-keeper to take over the gloves. In the opening overs, Alleyne twice allowed balls to pass through his legs for four byes.

Alleyne's memory of the occasion is, however, far more pragmatic.

"You can worry if you let through four byes, but at the same time that is no different to a misfield from another fielder," he argued.

Central role

"Added to that people are sensible. They won't have the same expectations of you, which should allow you to relax. Certainly you can get away with mistakes that a regular keeper couldn't get away with.

"It can be nerve-wracking, but personally, I was very confident. I had kept wicket a lot as a youngster, and I love being a part of the game. It is a position where, potentially, you can be involved in every single ball."

Perhaps, but it wise - or even fair - to entrust such an important position to someone who is not used to doing the job?

Alleyne has done the job for England

When John Crawley kept in a one-day match in Australia three years ago, he looked clumsy and awkward.

"The picking up and retrieving should be straightforward. The biggest problem for a non-regular keeper is in fact the difficulty he might have getting into some of the positions that keepers adopt," said Alleyne.

"For instance crouching down, and watching the game from a different angle. He wouldn't be used to it and would therefore tire very quickly.

"It makes you wonder how Alec Stewart did it for so long, captaining the side as well.

Stewart in the cold

"I certainly wouldn't recommend a keeper to be captain. In one way, it's the best position to be in on the field. But at the same time, wicket-keeping needs exceptional concentration. There are too many distractions for both jobs to be done well."

Trescothick is, of course, no more than a replacement until Foster recovers from his stomach bug, but there mighty be a temptation now to throw the Somerset player the gloves in an attempt to fiddle an extra batsman or bowler into the side.

It certainly doesn't do Alec Stewart any favours in his bid to reclaim his place next summer.

Has the door been closed on Stewart?

"He'll find it difficult to get in now," Alleyne said of Stewart. "They seem to have made a clean break with the past, especially now they've overlooked Warren Hegg.

"Foster has a lot of improving to do in my opinion, but he is improving. I see many similarities with Mark Boucher.

"Boucher first came into to the South Africa side and looked quite ordinary. They stuck with him, though, and now he is one of the leading glovemen in world cricket."

That said, Alleyne strongly believes that in the long term there is no place for the stand-in.

"I don't see the point," he said. "For a one-off match you can get away with it, but over the course of a series there will be three or four chances that, realistically, only a regular keeper will be able to take.

"The whole series could depend on those chances."