There is something about Chris Read which invites recollection of a bygone era.

Perhaps the best specialist wicketkeeper in the world, the Devon-born right-hander has never scored enough runs to truly convince in comparison to contemporaries Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakarra.

Read learned his trade at Gloucestershire under the auspices of Jack Russell and it was the evergreen eccentric's refusal to bow to the passage of time that forced a move to the East Midlands.

An impressive tour of the West Indies was cut short last year when, despite playing superbly in three consecutive wins which secured England's first series win in the Carribean for 40 years, he was dropped to make way for Geraint Jones.

The Kent wicketkeeper has retained his place since and with good cause after a number of pivotal innings, the like of which Read is thought incapable of providing.

This may be a touch unfair on a player with more than respectable first-class stats but he has been found wanting at Test level, perhaps stigmatised by a golden duck to a Chris Cairns slower ball in only his second Test innings.

Despite that embarrassing misjudgement, many view his feisty and innovative one-day batting as proof that he would make an excellent number eight.

But unless a second genuine all-rounder arrives on the scene - and England should already be grateful to have been blessed with Andrew Flintoff - it seems Read is destined to play second fiddle to Jones.

Nevertheless, the current incumbent's failure to improve remains a genuine problem for Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher, and they may yet be forced to consider the altogether different but no less palatable choice of Read during 2005.