Exactly. We're meant to be innocent until proven guilty in this country. But we couldn't pick him because we knew that the ball tampering Convicts would have made every single press conference about the incident.
I don't see why we should have lost our best all-rounder just because the Aussie press pack are still moaning about their ancestors getting caught nicking a loaf of bread in Regency England.
At Trent Bridge there could be a case for him replacing Adil. That becomes an excellent 5-pronged pace attack. But in the first test, Adil took useful wickets in both innings, and the last one was when he had to make sure he didn't get tonked.
Had conditions been better and the Indians less useless then he might have been vital again.
How about Butter to keep and YJB to open? Cook's had the great deliveries to get him out. If he finds his form, we'd have a great top three to build a platform for our strong lower middle order.