Jonathan Agnew column

By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent

Harmison (right) is pushing for a recall to Strauss' side

The appalling attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the match officials in Lahore has shocked everyone on this tour.

We are all on the same merry-go-round and it takes in some volatile and dangerous places.

But for good fortune, it might have been us in that convoy to the Gaddafi Stadium rather than our friends, and there is absolutely no doubt that there will be a very different attitude taken by everyone involved to touring when we are anything less than 100% with the security arrangements.

Now that we know cricket teams are targets, everything has changed.

Listening to the graphic, moving and angry eye-witness accounts from Lahore, it seems to be a miracle that we are in the position to look ahead to the fifth Test in Port of Spain at all.

I thought Andrew Strauss hit the nail absolutely on the head when he said that this gives his team the chance to project the good side of cricket.

England will have to be positive from the start which, to be fair, is the way Strauss has tried to approach every game following the shambles in the first Test in Jamaica.

He said that every member of his 16-man squad is up for selection, but I do not for one moment believe that Ryan Sidebottom, who conjured up the image of Laurel and Hardy's old car disintegrating when he left the field at Barbados, or Adil Rashid will play.

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In fact, there is good reason to pick the five most senior bowlers, including Steve Harmison, and make the best of it.

At least that way, all bases are covered, including tall seam bowlers in the event of the pitch becoming uneven, which is a trait here.

There is some chuntering in and around the team regarding Matt Prior's decision to return home to visit his already safely delivered baby but, despite Tim Ambrose's runs in Barbados, Prior is a better bet at number six.

In fact, had he remained on the tour, England would probably have played five bowlers last week.

Arguably, the most difficult decision is which batsman to omit should England go down the five-bowler route.

It is a choice between a man who scored a century in the last game, or the batsman who is now England's first choice in the pivotal position of number three.

I would go for the latter, Owais Shah, simply because it would be more of an upheaval for the rest of the batting line-up.

That said, it is precisely that sort of "one-off" attitude that England must take with them into this match.