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Darren Lehmann has been the coach of the Australian cricket team for little more than a week, and has already stamped his authority over the side.
The first step was to elevate Shane Watson to his favoured opening role. It’s assumed the thought process was something along the lines of: a happy Watson is a successful Watson, and a successful Watson gives Australia their best chance in the series.
His 90 against Somerset and a century overnight at Worcestershire suggests Lehmann knows his man, and his first decisive act might just prove to be his finest hour.
If Watson can enjoy a run of form similar to what he showed when at his best in the position from 2009-10, and Chris Rogers performs as solidly as we all assume, then the Aussies could well be in a position of ascendency in first sessions, which has been unfamiliar of late.
It’s right to expect Watson will take important wickets regardless of where he bats. Few are cannier than he with the ball, and his Test record in England from a few bowls is 11 wickets at a tick over 15.
The second move Lehmann made was to confirm Chris Rogers as Watson’s opening partner. It was hard to believe there could be any conjecture about whether he should play, and the only question was whether it would be as opener or first drop. Essentially a better version of Ed Cowan (and not too shabby a writer either), his has been a remarkable tale.
Reading the tea-leaves, Michael Clarke will bat at four, to be followed by Phil Hughes at five. As the best batsman in the side, Lehmann won’t stand for Clarke coming in any lower than four. Hughes has been making runs in the lead-up and from all reports looked comfortable in the middle order during the last tour match.
So the batting order is coming together at long last, and in the lead-up to the Ashes its make-up has dominated most of the talk.
But now the question remains, what will Lehmann’s bowling line-up look like in the first Test, with each paceman at 100% fitness?
With Watson as a confirmed starter, it means Nathan Lyon will be playing. He matured as a Test match spinner in India, and in the fourth Test finally started bowling with some verve and personality, key ingredients for an off-spinner.
Hopefully the lesson stays learnt and he can get in the face of the opposition batsmen in a way that Graeme Swann is sure to do in return.
There has been talk of James Faulkner batting at seven and adding strength to the bowling, but although Lehmann’s nickname is Boof, he simply can’t be that stupid. Blind Freddy understands batting is Australia’s weakness, so he couldn’t possibly make it weaker still.
No, it will be six bastmen, four bowlers and a keeper, so we can lock Haddin in at seven. But which three quicks will accompany Lyon at Trent Bridge?
James ‘The Package’ Pattinson has it all, and is surely the first one pencilled in.
Tall, genuinely quick, and angry, he’s at home bowling line and length or putting the frighteners up the opposition with a mixture of outswingers and throat balls. Capable of a spell of searing hostility, this 23 year old already has 40 Test wickets at 23, with most of those being top six batsmen.
He is everything we hoped Mitchell Johnson would be a decade ago, and more.
Ryan Harris is ten years older than Pattinson, but shares the same bowling average, and the Australian public can’t wait to see them bowl in tandem again.
Harris runs to the crease in full-chested, bull-at-a-gate style, deceptively quick and skiddy, searching away at an off-stump line with his away swing, and getting the odd one to duck back in. Effective at keeping it tight, able to work both downhill and up, he’s best employed in no more than five over spells.
Harris gets injured walking to the letter-box or tying his shoelaces, but if he’s fit, he plays.
With Faulkner currently behind the other quicks in the pecking order, the question is who of Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and Jackson Bird will be playing in the first Test.
Starc returned impressive figures in the Somerset tour match with 4/33 and 2/41, and is probably Australia’s best exponent of reverse swing, which is expected to play a major role in this series. It’s worth noting though, only one of those wickets was of a genuine batsman (Pattinson’s number was five).
Starc can be wayward and not entirely trustworthy, but does bring the variety of a left-armer to the attack. He’s a talented cricketer, and superb as back-up, but can we afford to have him gifting the English top order runs if he doesn’t get it right, especially early in such a crucial series? Not for mine we can’t.
Peter Siddle is currently ranked the fifth best Test bowler (third best paceman) in the world, and the only Aussie on tour ranked in the top 20. What sort of bowling depth does Australia have when I can’t find a spot for him in our line-up?
Siddle has been the mainstay and workhorse of the Australian attack without ever really being its leader. Renowned as a consistent bowler, he is actually somewhat the opposite. He can bowl match-winning spells filled with fire and venom, but there are also times when he comes off as a district plodder.
In his last 29 Tests, he’s taken three wickets or less on 17 occasions, but also six wickets or more nine times. For a man of his experience, the gap between his best and worst is still too great, and there remain question marks over his suitability in English conditions.
Lion-hearted, and will bowl all day, he’ll have a role to play in the next ten Ashes Tests, and what a luxury it will be to have him in reserve.
Jackson Bird gets my nod as the third seamer, despite his relative inexperience at Test and first class level.
Not many quicks can boast a bowling average of 19.56 after 20 first class matches, nor claiming man-of-the-match honours in only their second Test, but Bird can.
I was at the MCG for his debut on Boxing Day last year against Sri Lanka and, like many being exposed to him for the first time, my thoughts immediately turned to England, wondering how damaging he could be.
Blessed with the knack of getting just the right amount of seam off a probing line and length with balls delivered from his full height, Bird is a metronome in the Glenn McGrath mould who should expose any chinks in a batsman’s armour, be it technical or mental.
So there we have it, a bowling line-up that is a perfect combination of accuracy, movement, hostility and smarts that, most importantly, is capable of taking 20 cheap wickets.
After months of despair surrounding Cricket Australia and our chances in England, all of a sudden there is more than a glimmer of hope and joyful expectation in the air.
Darren Lehmann is a throwback to a simpler time, when batsman batted, bowlers bowled, and everyone had a beer after a day’s play.
The Australian team is coming together under his command, and we might just be in for something special as a result.