In a recent Spectator, the English sports writer James Nicholls argues that this should be the Australian XI to play the first Test at Trent Bridge in July: Rogers, Marsh, Khawaja, Clarke, Warner, Watson, Wade, Johnson, Pattinson, Siddle, Lyon.
There is a lot to admire about this side. Rogers is a one-Test veteran who has a much better first class average than the more favoured (by the selectors) players, except I would think Philip Hughes, an exclusion from the Nicholls side.
The three Ws in the middle of the order, Warner, Watson and Wade, although not a patch on the original three Ws, Weekes, Worrall and Walcott, have a certain pugnacity to their batting that is appealing.
But there is a lot wrong with the side, too.
It does not take into account the fact that the selectors, with no more Tests to play before the Ashes series starts, cannot start experimenting with new opening pairs and batting orders that are significantly different from those they’ve played with for the last few Tests.
And the inclusion of Johnson ahead of Starc does not fairly balance the merits of the two left-armers. In my view, Johnson’s card should be marked, ‘never to play Test cricket again.’
The fine mess the selectors have got themselves and the baggy greens into means that they are in the situation where they only tinker with the squad they’ve been using throughout the last couple of series.
Luckily for them, the New Zealand team, which threatened to defeat England twice in the just-finished series has given the selectors some strong feed-back on how to win back the Ashes.
First: Have a strong opening pair. My suggestion here is that Hughes should be promoted to open with Cowan. Hughes, as an opener, scores his runs fast enough to balance the tortoise-like pace of Cowan’s efforts.
Second: I would play Warner at first drop. He plays fast bowling well enough to handle the fall of an early wicket. He is also a better player of spin than Hughes, with the capacity to hit someone like Swann out of the game if things fall in the right order for him.
Third: I would bat Watson at four and tell him to stop the posing after a shot that always reminds me of body builder going through his posing routines.
I would get into Watson’s head that scoring runs is preferable to his penchant for trying to look good.
Be ruthless and use the power he has to get into the England bowling by batting the way he does in the one-day and T20 matches.
New Zealand hit 12 sixes in their mammoth first innings at Eden Park, while England scrapped up one six in their two battling innings.
Four: Restore Clarke to the number five batting position.
He is more comfortable there. He has scored massively in this position but has struggled when he’s been moved up the list.
The way he bats at number five enables him to turn innings around the way McCallum did for the Kiwis with his quick-fire innings as captain at Eden Park.
The England attack, which relies a lot on cut and movement off the pitch, looked pretty innocuous on a pitch that didn’t do much.
Five: Forget about the hit-and-giggle merchants like Smith and Maxwell. Wade goes in at number six in the order. He has scored a Test century, and given some sound tactical advice is good enough to bat this high in the order.
Six: The key to beating England is obvious but difficult.
You have to bowl them out twice, something that is incredibly hard to do as they showed twice against New Zealand, and against Australia in recent Ashes series.
Australia is not going to post massive scores against England unless Clarke has another one of his Bradman-like run of a double and triple centuries.
England will have to be beaten by being bowled out for relatively low scores that Australia can better.
NZ almost did this with an pop gun attack compared with what the Australians have in their arsenal.
The key to this was the success of their left-arm pace bowlers. This makes the inclusion of the best of the Australian lefties, Starc, an absolute requirement.
Seven: stack the attack with three more quickies, Pattinson, Siddle, Bird. Use them relentlessly against an England batting line-up that, with the exception of the Pietersen and Prior, is a grinding outfit.
Eight: Use spinner Lyon for the opening Tests, but if there are Tests that have to be won be prepared to gamble on Fawad Ahmed and his leg-spinners.
Nine: Drop Clarke as a selector.
It is difficult enough captaining an Australian side that outside of himself lacks any other great player.
But the difficulty is compounded when the captain is associated with some of the more bizarre selectorial decisions that have been made.
Ten: Take heart from New Zealand that this current England side is beatable by a side that plays relentless, hard and efficient cricket.
This is not beyond whatever Australian side that takes the field, and certainly is not beyond the line-up I’ve suggested.
dcnz
Guest
About a foot outside off stump.
JohnB
Guest
You got them out cheaply twice - first innings of first and third tests. The English were good enough to bat out a long time for the draw both times - though only just in the third test. England deserve credit for that (and as James said the Australians could learn a lot from them there). NZ also deserve credit for putting England in that position (twice). I don't disagree that NZ attack is a decent one - perhaps not good enough to win consistently on wickets not giving assistance, but certainly not popgun either.
richard
Guest
Actually,we did get them out cheaply in one innings - first or second test I think,All I'm saying is that our pop-gun attack may be a bit better that Mr.Zavos thinks.From a NZ perspective,this bowling attack is an improvement on what we've had for quite some time. And even though we had a great third test by Peter Fulton,the strength of this team is its bowling attack. JB- you lost in India because you have no quality spinners in your team,as you well know.
Sam
Guest
And yet we hear more of Khawaja.... why is he an automatic start in all of these teams???
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
Your saying Starc doesn't swing it.
James
Guest
australia will be battle hardened or battle scared after india?
James
Guest
yeah they didnt manage to get england out twice, they got near once really but still were not able to do it. new zealand played brilliantly england really underestimated them i feel and just were not ready for pitches which really do not do much at all. also the top few english batsmen failing in 2 innings of a match will not happen that often. i think australia can learn more from england than they can from new zealand specifically how to not give in and bat out a match. thats something that england did brilliantly and something australia did terribly at.
Ra
Guest
Durrhhh..... That is an easy one .... The Kiwi king of international cricket, the big name player who puts bums on seats in stadia around the world is McCullum. I didn't like him batting up the order and as we can see by him taking himself back down the order he has been of much more value to the team. I wish he had done that for Taylor. But those up and coming young pop guns rallied for their new leader. McCullum's mana has in my opinion a lot to do with those young pop guns lifting their game. We all know what having a few top guns around can do to lift young guns to fire like an artillery battery especially when backs are against the wall, and that's across the board. McCullums captaincy in the field, and the maturity of his captains knock with the bat were highly praised by television commentators on numerous occasions, and the fact that he lifted his own game to lead by example added steel to him young and inexperienced team. I don't have a problem with Aussies calling our attack pop guns - that's cool. Outside of Hadley, Vettori and Bond we've never really had a fearsome attack, but that is also the Archilles heel of international cricket sides also. They're too busy worrying what McCullum might be able to conjure up and mistakenly under rate our pop gun battery.
jimmyk
Guest
Have we not learnt ? Five batsmen? (4.5 if Watson bats in the top five) We need six genuine batsmen (keeper at seven) Four bowlers, back to basics.
johnb747b
Guest
What about Bird, an ideal bowler for English conditions? Reliable, accurate. In place of Johnson.
Mr Toad
Guest
Spiro - Watson is no longer a top-order Test batsmen, if he ever was. If he plays, it has to be as a bowling allrounder, clocking in 10-12 overs a day backed by solid contributions in the lower order. As for Hughes walking out to open, I suspect this will look like duck a l'orange served on a platter quacking all the way to the crease to Jimmy Anderson and co.
JohnB
Guest
He did then say each BBL squad should include a female player, so maybe the hours in the sun are catching up with him. Not wanting to appear sexist here, but would any female remotely get into one of those teams on merit? When he started out, Watson definitely had the potential to be a very very good, even great player. Now he has the potential to get into a "what might have been" type XI. As a general comment on this thread, how Harris doesn't get into any Australian team when he's fit is beyond me.
JohnB
Guest
But they didn't get England out cheaply (or at all) twice.
Disco
Roar Guru
Steve Waugh: "Shane Watson, I think, has the potential to be a really great Test batsman." Says it all really. Potential?!
Jo M
Guest
The only problem with Harris is after playing the IPL season (not for money of course), what's the bet he will get injured again? If was as serious about keeping his bowling going as he says he is (what is 4 overs a time going to do), he would have signed up for county cricket and been ready to go in their conditions
Dcnz
Guest
Boult and southee lack in pace a bit however they hit the corridor better than the Aussies who lack variety and don't bowl full enough nor do they swing it much.
Praveen
Guest
Good team Calvin
Harry
Guest
I agree, McCullum wouldn't get close to being in a lot of test teams, he's a great short-form player and has got good figures over this series, but he has been woeful over the last few years. One of the objections to McCullum getting the captaincy in NZ was that his batting form wasn't strong enough to make him part of the team - he's a Shane Watson without the bowling. McCullum is great when there's already a big score of the board and it's a flat pitch and he can just go for it knowing it doesn't overly matter if he gets out for 0, but he struggles massively when he needs to defend, build an innings or the pitch is 'doing something'. The real stars of this NZ test team are Taylor and Williamson in the batting and Boult in the bowling. The other bowlers are also making a real case for themselves as well and Watling has done well since taking over the gloves.
DJW
Guest
Australian bowlers need to build pressure with good tight bowling. For me this is why bird is a Good option. Starc and Johnson can be match winners but at the moment bowl far too many loose deliveries letting off the pressure. Rhino, Pattinson, Siddle and Bird should be our main bowlers. Starc as backup but I think he needs a solid ss season like cummins. Most importantly Maxwell and Doherty should be banished to limited overs cricket for good. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
colvin
Guest
Spiro I like your team better than James' but some changes. My view is it's too late now for any drastic changes. It's now a matter of the team getting form and confidence. 1 Warner and Cowen 3 Hughes earned his place because of his belated improvement in India 4 Khawaja on a permanent basis 5 Clarke- where he performs best 6 Watson only if he bowls and form dictates 7 The best keeper probably Hadden. The keeper needs to be 7 (not 6). 8 Starc 9 Siddle 10 Patterson 11 Lyon-with a better keeper he will get more wickets Bird, Wade and Smith as reserves able to step in if form dictates. The point about learning from NZ is that Aus needs to take into the Ashes a battle hardened team. NZ was definitely that after having a long period in South Africa. Aus will be battle hardened after India but there needs to be a continued build up now, not a couple of months rest for many of the test team.