SVEN-GORAN Eriksson yesterday made his second big mistake as England coach - naming David Beckham as captain.

The first was ignoring the nation's most natural on-pitch leader - Middlesbrough's Paul Ince.

The Boro skipper is playing some of the best football of his career - just ask his current boss, former England coach Terry Venables.

As it happens, Ince would have almost certainly been unable to play a part in tonight's game against Spain because of a virus which has prevented him from training this week.

Nevertheless, the midfield enforcer's exclusion from Eriksson's 31-man squad for the Villa Park friendly was a glaring oversight by the Swede.

He may be 33, but Ince still plays with pride, passion and drive - whether in the white of England or the red of Boro.

His experience would have been invaluable to Eriksson at the start of a bold new era for English football, especially in light of the retirements from the international arena of fellow former captains Alan Shearer and Tony Adams.

But Eriksson has decided that Beckham, who skippered his country for the first time when Peter Taylor was in temporary charge for the friendly in Italy in November, should retain the captain's armband.

The move is all the more alarming when you read Beckham rubbishing his own claims to be skipper by admitting: "I'm not a natural captain.''

He's right there. The Manchester United star is a huge talent, but he has only gradually grown in maturity and is still scarcely fit to lead a pack of boy scouts.

Beckham is 26 in May, an age at which a man supposedly reaches his physical peak.

Yet mentally and emotionally, Beckham still at times seems light years away from manhood.

Evidence of that was his silly one-fingered gesture to a mindless minority of England fans who hurled abuse at him at Euro 2000.

The petulant Beckham reacted in a way that Bobby Moore, Shearer or Adams would never have done.

Ince, of course, is no saint. He too is prone to temper tantrums and wild acts of aggression - remember the gesture to the England bench when he was substituted during Glenn Hoddle's reign?

But what Ince possesses, unlike Beckham, is experience and the ability to inspire those around him to rally to the cause.

Admittedly, candidates for the captaincy are in short supply.

Beckham's Old Trafford teammate Gary Neville and Tottenham's Sol Campbell aren't the most assertive players in the world.

But either of them would have been a more logical choice than Beckham.

It's likely we will learn little of the new regime from tonight's game.

After all, former Lazio boss Eriksson is on a learning curve himself and intends to take a look at as many players as he can throughout the 90 minutes.

All eyes will inevitably be on Beckham and we can only hope he does not react to any typical Spanish provocation and embarrass Eriksson in his first game in charge