As we glow in the aftermath of Australia’s emphatic World Cup final victory, thoughts inevitably turn to what happens next.
For Australia, the focus now shifts back to Test cricket, with a two-Test series in the West Indies starting June 5, followed by the Ashes in July and August.
Their next one-day international is not until August 27, against Ireland, followed by a five-match series in England in the first two weeks of September.
What will our side look like in that series? Scarily, it could be better than the team that emphatically won the Cup on Sunday night.
Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin will be gone, and it’s quite possible that Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson won’t be there either, either voluntarily or through selection.
My team
1. David Warner
A solid World Cup for the dynamic left-hander, Warner’s innings in the final took the heat off of a potentially tricky situation.
2. Aaron Finch
Had an up and down World Cup and never looked comfortable at any stage – even when he made a century in the opening game against England, he should have been caught for a duck. Has enough credit with the selectors to get one more series.
3. Steve Smith (c)
What can you say about Smith that hasn’t already been said? The new skipper has had one of the best summers ever seen. His World Cup was fantastic after a slow start and his move to the number three position permanently was one of the catalysts of the run to the Cup.
Has the potential to have a similar impact on Australian cricket as Ricky Ponting did.
4. George Bailey
Bailey played one game (as captain) in the World Cup for a half-century full of courage and skill. His classy performance in knowing that he would be the one to miss out once Clarke returned from injury shows just what a great team man he is.
He deserves to take Clarke’s place and should be returned as vice-captain.
5. Mitchell Marsh
If we want to keep the team structure of the World Cup in place, Marsh will come in to take Watson’s spot. Marsh is not quite as good a batsman, but is far superior with the ball and in the field. Watson has been a good servant but his time has come.
6. Glenn Maxwell
‘The Big Show’ delivered on the big stage and is now our first-choice one-day spinner. Always in the game and his fielding is outstanding.
7. Matthew Wade
Played in the South Africa series in November when Haddin rested so the Victorian skipper would appear to have first dibs on being the keeper in the post-Haddin era. If the selectors are looking for a left-field pick, Ben Dunk could be an option as the second-highest run-scorer in the domestic one-day cup last season.
8. James Faulkner
New Zealand were the latest team to be ‘Faulknered’, this time he did it with the ball in the final. Has a knack of winning man of the match awards.
9. Pat Cummins
If Mitch Johnson decides to retire from ODI cricket, or at least take a rest after the Ashes, Cummins is the logical replacement having been in the World Cup squad and performing serviceably when called upon. Still very young, Cummins is a wicket taker, a gun in the field, and more than handy with the bat.
10. Mitchell Starc
The current number one ranked ODI bowler in the world set the tone in the final with a beautiful in-swinging yorker that rattled the stumps of Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum. You could feel the Kiwi crowd groan, knowing the game was virtually over in the first over.
11. Josh Hazlewood
Had a great World Cup, performing the Glenn McGrath role of the tall quick who puts it on the spot all the time. With Cummins, Faulkner and Starc, Hazlewood will form a formidable attack that will be around for a long time.
Squad members could include Fawad Ahmed, Adam Voges, Gurinder Sandhu, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Sean Abbott.
That side should comfortably account for England, even if Kevin Pietersen returns.
Todd Shand
Guest
Mitch Johnson will play on
Deepak Tiwari
Roar Rookie
my team is warner finch smith bailey watson m marsh maxwell wade faulkner starc johnson and reserves are:- lynn, cummins, agar, hazelwood For now, Finch should be given a series or two and if he fails then burns or maddinson will be a good option and I think johnson is too fit and will play till 2019 world cup . Agar must be choosen as a spinning option and also he is handy with the bat.
Jarijari
Guest
If Mitch is OK to play IPL he'll be right for the one-dayers, not that he's needed. Bailey's time is up, bring in Chris Lynn and Joe Burns. Spinner won't be in first choice team, maybe Cameron Boyce. Throw in Tim Ludeman so I don't sound like a Queenslander.
Alex Kiefer
Roar Rookie
It certainly is still a scary side. Only change I'd make would be playing Maxwell at 5 over Marsh, as I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with Marsh coming in that early. The batting depth of the side continued to amaze me throughout the world cup.
botham
Guest
Well they should the two weak links in the media tart clarke and watson not around they should be far better Kiwis on the rack at about 40 for 3 top bowlers shouldve stayed on ..i think clarke made about 100 runs in whole tournament not exactly leading by example and watson is just average
jameswm
Guest
Yep right now that looks like what they'll do.
jameswm
Guest
Yeah but if you open with two lefties, opposition teams will open their bowling with right arm offies. Makes scoring early hard. Here's a left field option - open with Maxwell. Solid batsmen at 3-4-5, MMarsh at 6. Lynn at 5 could be explosive when he wants to.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Definitely want Smith batting at #3 in tests from now on. No question. I can't imagine we'll see Watson and M.Marsh in the same test team again. Marsh replaced Watson in the team when Watson was injured, Watson's return happened to coincide with the #3 batsman basically being dropped, so they slotted him in there and pretty much accidentally ended up with both in the team. For Marsh to come back into the team now, he has to either replace Watson, or be considered the best batsman of all the potentials to take that spot. No way he can be considered that at the moment. Voges is likely in the team because the Ashes series isn't one where they want to experiment with a young player, they'll pick a 35 year old to debut because he's the best option, even if he's only got a couple of years in him at the most. I'm pretty sure Voges has also played a fair bit of County cricket and done pretty well then, so I really hope he is selected ahead of Shaun Marsh. If so, we could see a team like this: Warner Rogers Smith Clarke Voges M.Marsh / Watson Haddin / Nevill Johnson Starc Harris / Hazlewood Lyon
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
If Khawaja hadn't gone and got injured right after the Matador Cup he probably would have had a really good shot at the World Cup Squad. He would probably be a good Finch replacement. He can turn the strike over early and when he gets in he can really up the scoring rate, which is the perfect sort of partner for Warner. You want someone to basically feed him the strike in the first 10-15 overs, keep the scoreboard ticking over and not get tied down. You also want someone with the skills to handle the swinging ball.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Nevill has shown that on top of being a better keeper, he is a better batsman, certainly at first class level. However, I don't know how they compare in the limited overs side of things. Wade has certainly received a lot of favouritism in the shorter forms of the game. Nevill played for the Renegades, Wade managed to negotiate a move from the Stars to the Renegades based on him opening the batting, meaning that Nevill didn't see a game. Even though everyone knows Wade is probably the worst actual keeper in the Australian first class set up (though, to be fair, he does seem to have worked hard on his keeping over the winter and was a lot better this summer), in any team he is in, even with another keeper, he is always the one taking the gloves. Handscombe played a lot of matches for Victoria this shield season where Wade was in the same side, and it's hard to imagine Wade would be the better of the two glovemen, yet he always got the gloves when both were in the side. Quite amazing really when everyone knows that he's really not a very good wicketkeeper.
JohnB
Guest
To be fair, he's only picked 10, so presumably Faulkner is meant to be there (?)
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The selectors have clearly shown their hand in selecting Nevill for the test squad. But I do wonder if they like Nevill for tests but Wade for ODI's and rather than a single keeper across the different formats.
deccas
Guest
the other openers spot has to go to Khawaja, who has been incredible in one day cricket. I'd suggest Lynn would be great in the middle order too, but there are a few bats who could make that spot thier own.
Scuba
Guest
In the last home Ashes series Haddin came in three times with the score at 5/150 or less and scored 94, 65 and 75 at an outstanding average of 81.33. Outside that series, since his return to the Test side in 2013, he has come in at 5 (or 6) down for less than 150 seven times, scoring 30, 1, 7, 7, 8, 9 and 0 at a not-so-outstanding average of 8.86. Overall, in those situations, he averaged 29.6 since his return to the Test side. Using the same parameters (but including the series in India where he batted at 6), Wade has averaged 28.75.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
You only have 4 bowlers in your team. That selection would be requiring Steve Smith to bowl 10 overs.
deccas
Guest
he has one of the better techniques in the shield. Makes tough runs against good bowling attacks. He isn't just another slogger!
Chris Moore
Roar Rookie
I would be pretty upset if Voges didn't come in ahead of Watson, have Smith at 3 and Voges at 5. No way we can waste Sir Smith at 5!
Winston
Guest
I agree. Haddin's had his fair share of ups and downs in form, but ever since his last form slump (which was a good 2-3 years ago now) the number of times his batting has saved us is quite amazing. So many times we were about 5/100 when he came in and steadied the ship. Wade may have some big innings but I can't recall any to beat Haddin's top 20 list.
jameswm
Guest
Squad has been announced for WIndies and Ashes Michael Clarke (c), Steve Smith (vc), Fawad Ahmed, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris (Ashes only), Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Peter Nevill, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitch Starc, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson 1. Rogers 2. Warner 3. Watson 4. Clarke 5. Smith 6. Mitch Marsh 7. Haddin 8. Johnson 9. Starc 10. Lyon 11. Hazlewood 12. Voges 13. Shaun Marsh 14. Nevill 15. Siddle 16. Ahmed 17. Harris - for Ashes only Faulkner didn't make it - he's hard to fit in. Maybe if Nevill establishes himself as a quality test bat and moves to 6, you can slot Faulkner in at 7. But that means dropping Mitch Marsh. Joey Burns didn't make it. That would have been a close call. Watto being in has hurt his chances. in the WIndies, two reserve batsmen but only one reserve fast bowler. Siddle did have a strong Shield season. I would say Bird is one I would have, ahead of one of the two reserve batsmen.
pjm
Roar Rookie
He's just another slogger.