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The Australians play a two-dayer against the English Lions starting Friday at Northampton, affording the opportunity for Steve Smith to captain the side.
Smith has shown plenty of leadership qualities with Australia A, and in the Big Bash, to be given his chance.
That will be the only game before the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval, starting next Wednesday week.
It also gives those week in week out Australian net cricketers on tour the chance to get rid of the cobwebs.
How about a batting order of:
David Warner
Ed Cowan
Usman Khawaja
Phil Hughes
Steve Smith (c)
Matt Wade
James Faulkner
Ashton Agar
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Jackson Bird
Missing from the fourth Test loss – at Chester-le-Street – Chris Rogers, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Ryan Harris, and Peter Siddle.
It’s wise to rest Clarke’s suspect back in a minor game, Harris rarely plays four games in a row without breaking down, Watson has groin and hip pains, while Rogers, Haddin, and Siddle deserve a break.
But the biggest plus is for the selectors to gauge whether Cowan, Hughes, Wade, Faulkner, Agar, and Starc should be seriously considered for The Oval, with the Aussies down 3-zip.
As it sits, Starc should be an automatic inclusion for Watson, who may well have played his last Test.
But the other five will have to do something spectacular at Northampton to earn a start at The Oval, if the selectors stay with pick and stick.
England selector Geoff Miller has named a strong Lions side captained by former Test batsman Eoin Morgan.
It’s a team of no-names from an Australians point of view, but Miller has high hopes for most of them
The team: Morgan (Middlesex), Moeen Ali (Worcester), Gary Balliance (Yorkshire), Keith Barker (Warwickshire), Jos Buttier (Somerset), James Harris (Yorkshire), Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire), Alex Lees (Yorkshire), Liam Plunkett (Yotkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), and Luke Wells (Sussex).
Barker is a godson of West Indies batting legend Clive Lloyd. If he can be half as good as “Hubert”, he will be one helluva player.
Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar was going to play, but is under suspension for urinating on bouncers outside a Brighton nightclub. Anyone who knows this really good bloke would immediately say that is very much out of character.