Of the 16 players to tour India (including Brad Haddin but not Jackson Bird) only five of them make my Ashes squad and the other 11 – enough for a whole team! – are sitting on the couch watching in August.
So who makes the squad?
Those five from India are Michael Clarke, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Peter Siddle and James Pattinson.
For the Ashes you need six batsmen, a keeper and four bowlers (one spinner and hopefully a couple who can bat a bit). The order looks like this:
1. Chris Rogers
2. Hughes
3. Khawaja
4. Clarke (c)
5. Shaun Marsh
6. Joe Burns
7. Tim Paine (wk)
8. Steve O’Keefe
9. Siddle
10. Pattinson
11. Ryan Harris/ Bird
Other players in the squad would be George Bailey, Chris Hartley, James Faulkner and Ashton Agar.
This team has more batting depth because Tim Paine is a good batsman at seven and Steve O’Keefe can bat a bit, as can Siddle.
The decision between Ryan Harris and Jackson Bird is tricky, it depends on ‘Rhino’s’ body and whether it is up to the task of five days’ bowling.
Hartley and Bailey add experience to the squad, as does Rogers. And it is essential to have a back-up gloveman on tour in case Paine gets injured.
If England produce a turner (unlikely because they won’t have the weather) then Agar can play instead of a paceman and if there’s no spin at all (like the WACA) then Faulkner replaces OKeefe.
So Roarers, does this squad look better than the one that went to India?
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