England squad for Ashes tour announced...

[spring hall convert]

Love this quote from George Garton

""It was a great experience to get on Australian wickets for the first time and let the Aussies have it a bit," he said in Loughborough. "I managed to get it down there and let them sniff a few. There's no better feeling than hurling it down there as quick as you can and seeing the poles go everywhere, or making the batsmen feel uncomfortable."

He seems such a mild mannered chap irl!

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

It's building up nicely..................but still have those terrible memories of Harmison's first ball in Brisbane.

 

[OzMike]

Starc on fire at the moment, he just got 2 x hat tricks in a Sheffield Shield game.

 

[Audax]

Starc on fire at the moment, he just got 2 x hat tricks in a Sheffield Shield game.

"Just" ... actually, was in the previous round. He's not playing the current round. None of the Aussie quicks are, they're all either injured (Coulter-Nile, Patterson) or being rested (Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood) ahead of first test preparation.

Day 2 of the current round of Shield games is done:

WA vs SA
Bancroft - made 228* before declaration at 514/7. I think it'd be very hard for the selectors to leave him out at this point. That's his second unbeaten double in recent months (scored one for Gloucs vs Kent).
Lehmann - failed.

Tas vs Vic
Bailey - Has followed his ton in the first innings with 30* at stumps.
Nothing else noteworthy in this game as far as Aussie selection concerned.

QLD vs NSW
Renshaw - failed again (1 from 3)
Burns - failed again (golden duck)
Khawaja - Followed his 78* with 52 in the second dig.
Nevill - failed in NSW first innings.

 

[Audax]

From what I'm reading today, I think this will be the Brisbane line up for the Aussies:

Warner
Renshaw
Khawaja
Smith
Handscomb
Bancroft
Nevill (W/K)
Starc
Cummins
Hazlewood
Lyon
Maxwell (12th)

It's looking like typical selection inertia has set in, with Renshaw getting a lot of support from inside the team and being called away from the Shield game to have a nets session against the quicks (+ Jackson Bird). Bancroft is unlikely to be given 'keeping duties, which likely means that Nevill takes that spot. But, the pressure to get Bancroft into the team somewhere is growing rapidly and the fact he only made 17 in the second innings isn't seen as putting a dampener on that. That likely squeezes Maxwell into 12th man duties, unless the selectors decide they really need him in the squad as the 5th bowling option.

 

[Scappa]

Full Aussie squad: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc

 

[Arkwright]

Looks like the Aussies are hoping to knock us over with pure pace and have taken an eye off the batting.

Get through Warner and Smith early and we have a chance.

 

[Gwylan]

Full Aussie squad: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc

The press are going bonkers over the selection of Paine - as one pundit pointed out, Darren Lehman has got a more recent first class ton than Paine.
But Marsh is surely the more bizarre pick, a bloke who's been picked and dropped so many times that he must already be calling himself ex-test player. The Australian top five look decent, after that ... our bowlers will be licking their lips

 

[Audax]

The press are going bonkers over the selection of Paine - as one pundit pointed out, Darren Lehman has got a more recent first class ton than Paine.
But Marsh is surely the more bizarre pick, a bloke who's been picked and dropped so many times that he must already be calling himself ex-test player. The Australian top five look decent, after that ... our bowlers will be licking their lips

First up, a bit of humble pie is in order: earlier in the thread I dismissed Paine as being no where near selection. Backtracked a bit on that after I spotted he'd played some T20 games, but still never expected him to get picked for the test squad any time soon. I think that selection is all about picking the best W/K and ignoring batting ability, given that none of the candidates have been racking up runs lately (Paine being the only one to actually score anything decent in Shield recently, unless you go for youth with Carey).

I really wish they'd stop going back to Marsh. The problem is, he keeps making runs in Shield at times when no one else appears to be on the radar, and then the runs dry up rapidly once he's in the test side. I would have preferred Lehmann jnr myself, but I suspect they were a bit scared of dropping in two debut bats. This squad pretty much cements the first test line up as:

Warner
Bancroft
Khawaja
Smith
Handscomb
Marsh
Paine
Starc
Cummins
Hazlewood
Lyon
Bird (12th)

Sayers isn't in the squad to play at Brisbane - here's there for the pink ball game at Adelaide.

 

[CHAPPERS]

I can’t wait for this series, it looks pretty even. Good to see Malan and Stoneman in the runs in this wam up.

Not a bad time to have a 2 month old and a Sky Sports subscription.

 

[ManOfSussex]

I can’t wait for this series, it looks pretty even. Good to see Malan and Stoneman in the runs in this wam up.

Not a bad time to have a 2 month old and a Sky Sports subscription.

You'll need a BT Sport subscription too.

 

[CHAPPERS]

You'll need a BT Sport subscription too.

BT Sport have it? Sweet, Virgin threw that in too!

 

[LlcoolJ]

I really wish they'd stop going back to Marsh. The problem is, he keeps making runs in Shield at times when no one else appears to be on the radar, and then the runs dry up rapidly once he's in the test side.

Sounds like us with Gary Ballance.

 

[BensGrandad]

Are the Ashes being shown live on BT as I thought they were exclusive to Sky? I hope so as I can then watch them.