The England selectors have given a boost to all those many ageing county cricketers who thought their chances of an international call-up was over.

With the advent of the national academy and the scrapping of 'A' Tours has come the perception that if replacements are needed when one of the core of England's team is injured or out of form, then players with youth on their side will be looked at first.

Whilst there is no official age limit set on the academy, it is no coincidence that no one over the age of 25 has yet been chosen. This is only right, of course. But in choosing the latest England squad the selectors have shown that they are willing to look at those cricketers who may have developed late.

None of the three mentioned above are exactly old. They have always been promising cricketers who are now beginning to fulfil that promise.

It is my belief that a batsman will get better and better the longer his career goes on. There will be a stage when his eyesight and reactions start to deteriorate slightly but until that time, he will only improve. Ed Smith is a classic case.

Showing immense potential when scoring 50 or more in each of his first six first-class games, he came into this season averaging a relatively modest 37. Now, at the age of 26, he has worked out a technique that suits him, looking to limit his weaknesses and utilise his strengths. Time will tell whether this technique will stand up to the ultimate test, but in waiting until now to pick him, the selectors have given him the best possible chance to succeed.

Smith's progress has occurred over a matter of three or four years of playing county cricket. When you play against guys such as Jim Troughton and Ian Bell of Warwickshire, it is obvious from the way they strike the ball that they have a remarkable talent. Yet they have not worked out a technique they are entirely happy with. Only when this happens will they be consistently successful at the highest level.

As always, one can take the Australian team as an example. It now contains several batsmen who have worked out their techniques over the course of a number of years and are now reaching a peak in their late twenties and early thirties. I am thinking in particular of Matt Hayden and Damien Martyn.

Martyn first played for Australia in his early twenties when he was talented and cocky but unsure of his technique. He was dropped and subsequently found his game over the next few years of playing domestic cricket in Australia.

In Hayden's case, the process visibly occurred during county spells with Hampshire and Northants. When he, too, returned to the Australian team after a prolific year at Northants, he had worked out his game plan against all kinds of bowling and on all types of pitches. His phenomenal success since then is no fluke.

Whilst the peak age for a bowler may be slightly less due to the physical stresses placed on the body, the same process occurs. Shaun Pollock and Glen McGrath have become more accurate and technically correct the older they have become. In the same way James Kirtley (28) and Glen Chapple (29) will be vastly improved bowlers from their early twenties.

Whoever is picked for today's Test match will be able to call upon years of experience and technique to give them the best chance of getting South African wickets.

James deserves his chance more than anyone. On the other hand if Chapple weren't tearing in down the hill at Hove in our game this week, you wouldn't hear any Sussex members complaining!