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Of backward selections and England's future

A couple of interesting selectorial decisions recently by England and India (and actually as its turning out Australia as well!). For once I think the England selectors didn't panic and showed the right thinking by not picking either Key or Ramprakash for the Oval Test. And luckily for them, both Bell and Trott have performed well enough to vindicate the decision. India on the other hand have actually gone the other way bringing Dravid back to the one-day squad. I'm a bit ambivalent on that one. While the decision to leave out Rohit Sharma and retain Raina was certainly the right one, bringing back Dravid is questionable. It would have been a bolder decision to pick someone like Kohli or Rahane who both played really well in the Emerging Players Trophy recently, mainly because Dravid is quite unlikely to feature in the 2011 World Cup so why bring him back now?

As for the Aussies, they will certainly be regretting not picking Nathan Hauritz for the Oval. A defensive decision if you ask me (probably made on the basis that Clark would concede fewer runs) and they paid for it. Overall, I think that's what stood out for me during this series. The fact that Australia were always very quick to go on the defensive each time there was even a hint of things going wrong. Guess that's what happens to teams when they lose the winning habit and the confidence. Still, they can take a few positives from the series in Hilfenhaus, Siddle, North and Watson all showing that they have what it takes to become long-term fixtures in the Test team. Hussey and Johnson were probably a bit of a disappointment but Clarke is well on the way to becoming a near future 'best-batsman-in-the-world' tag holder (with Sangakkara and AB deVilliers probably being his main rivals).

England also I think have found the nucleus of what can be a very good team with the emergence of Swann, Broad, Prior, Bell and Trott as cricketers with steel. And if Anderson, Cook and Collingwood can be a bit more (ok a lot more) consistent, that's a world beating XI when you add in Strauss and Pietersen who are already world class of course. I've been particularly impressed by Broad and Prior and they will be the key since all-round balance is really what makes great Test teams. There's been some talk of Broad being the new Flintoff and its instructive to look at their stats at the same relative point in their careers. After 22 Test matches, Flintoff had scored 683 runs at 20.83 (with one 100 and two 50s) and taken 33 wickets at 50.57 (with no five-fors). Broad on the other hand has scored 767 runs at 30.68 (with five 50s) and taken 64 wickets at 35.78 (with 3 five-fors). Of course, Broad has a long way to go but he's made what I think is a solid start for an all-rounder and if he keeps going from strength to strength (as he's certainly shown himself capable of in this Ashes) he'll be one to watch for. As will this England team, hopefully. The tour of South Africa can't come too soon!

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