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First thoughts on the Ashes

The only minor surprise for me in the 2013 Australian Ashes squad announced last week was the selection of James Faulkner ahead of Moises Henriques as the second all-rounder. Minor because given  the Shane Watson shenanigans of recent times, I would have thought that Inverarity and co would have opted for a second batting all-rounder (which is what Henriques clearly is). Instead they've gone with a bowling all-rounder in Faulkner and it'll be interesting to see what happens if Watson's batting woes in Test match cricket continue in the first two Tests. As for the rest of the squad, given the way the inexperienced batting performed in India, Rogers and Haddin were always going to make it in to the team and the choice of Khawaja over Smith appears sound too given that the latter's strength is in playing spin bowling. The batting still looks as unsettled and shaky as the Indian fast bowling line-up and its here that the series will be won or lost for the Aussies. The return of Harris at the expense of Mitchell Johnson was always on the cards as soon as the former regained fitness. All in all, I'd have to agree with (what seems to be) the unanimous view that this is the best the Aussie selectors could have done. Not sure about the "worst squad since 1985" comments given I didn't see that team in action.

I don't however agree with Matt Cleary's first XI. I think Australia are at their best when they play with a solid opening pair capable of long partnerships, depth in batting, and strong pace bowling. While the last can be achieved with more or less any of the fast men in the squad, the first two are easier said than done given that they have five opening batsmen in the squad! My line-up for Trent Bridge would be (in batting order): Rogers, Cowan, Hughes, Clarke, Khawaja, Watson, Haddin, Siddle, Harris, Pattinson, Lyon. Warner's temperament is still too suspect for my liking and I've always thought that Watson fits in better in the middle order given his ability/tendency to score attacking fifties. Harris and Pattinson will likely not play all five games so the fact that there is solid back-up in Starc and Bird is a good thing.

Turning to England, in my opinion they are not the runaway favourites that everyone's making them out to be especially given how they struggled against NZ. The fitness of two of their four match-winners is still in question and were Pietersen and Swann (especially the latter) not able to pull through, the series suddenly takes on a different look. Their back-up seam bowling is also more questionable when compared to their opponents though they will be playing at home.

Starting to build up nicely this and though my early stage prediction would be a 2-1 win for the English, I'm sure I'll change my mind a few times between now and July 10 :-)

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