With The Ashes coming up in a couple months with Australia vs England does anyone think Australia will reclaim The Ashes from England with the squad that was chosen today


This is the Australian ashes squad

1:Michael Clarke (Captain)
2:Brad Haddin (Vice Captain)
3:David Warner
4:Ed Cowan
5:Chris Rogers
6:Phillip Hughes
7:Shane Watson
8:Usman Khawaja
9:Matthew Wade
10:James Faulkner
11:Peter Siddle
12:Mitchell Starc
13:James Pattinson
14:Ryan Harris
15:Jackson Bird
16:Nathan Lyon


Brad Haddin selection puzzles me do they let both Matthew Wade & Brad Haddin play or do they leave Matthew Wade out and have Brad Haddin as keeper

They only chose one fulltime spinner in Nathan Lyon

I dunno, I"m not filled with a huge amount of confidence. Probably more worried about the batting line up than the bowling.

I thought Watson quit to make way for the "future"? Haddin??

Watson only quit as vice captain

According to Australia's current form it is a tall order fir them at the moment to beat England but miracles can and do happen in Cricket.

Yep, knew he only quit as VC (although I have a little quiestion about him being named at all!) but the way he said it all made it sound like it was to let a younger bloke come in and be trained up for the captaincy. Haddin doesn't really fit the bill.

I find Shane Watson so overated

Delighted to see Chris Rogers get another go. I think he was selected based on his excellent first class performances in England as well as back here. He and Cowan to open with Warner to bat at 6.... Hopefully Harris can stay fit.

Australian fast bowling must be cursed cause Ryan Harris is out for 2 months with injury he suffered in the IPL

Geez, way to jinx him, Mike!

This is the most amusing thread on the whole of FT.

Please flopsy, keep the sniggering to a level that can't be heard on this side of the equator :-)

'The Age' this afternoon was reporting that management were very, very confident he'll be right for the tour. Hence, he's gone...

I concur. After his dummy spit in India he should never have been allowed to play for Australia again. He could have said he came back home simply for family reasons and left it at that; most would have understood. But he insisted on making jibes about those within Cricket Australia and speculating on his future. Mate, you were one of four people who stuffed up and were disciplined for doing so. The other three copped it on the chin but you, who is built like Tarzan, reacted like Jane.

Well The Ashes series between Australia vs England starts today i can't wait as much as it pains i'm choosing England to win the series 2-1 with i reckon their will be at least 2 drawn tests

This is a shocker Ashton Agar is making his Test debut today for Australia against England

Australia's 1st test squad


1:Shane Watson
2:Chris Rogers
3:Ed Cowan
4:Michael Clarke
5:Phil Hughes
6:Steve Smith
7:Brad Haddin
8:Peter Siddle
9:James Pattinson
10:Mitchell Starc
11:Ashton Agar

12th man:Nathan Lyon


England:

1:Alastair Cook
2:Joe Root
3:Jonathan Trott
4:Kevin Pietersen
5:Ian Bell
6:Jonny Bairstow
7:Matt Prior
8:Stuart Broad
9:Graeme Swann
10:Steven Finn
11:James Anderson

I think Agar is Inverarity's baby. Being a fellow West Australian has helped, but I read today that Mike Hussey reckons that Agar is the "complete package".
I had to have a little laugh when I saw Agar's name in the team. Everyone was making a big thing about Fawad Ahmed having his citizenship rushed through so that he is available, and when it finally happened, he's sent home and an unknown 19yo gets the gig!

Oh, and just to weigh into the debate about Bad Haddin, I watched the first session of day 1, and in that 2 hours, Haddin let through, I think, 6 byes, and jumped over the top of a catch. I saw on the highlights tonight that he almost baulked Watson at 1st slip when Bell edgecd the ball. Haddin started to go and then stopped, which is a strict no-no for a keeper.
Wade had an ordinary tour of India with the gloves, but the ball was rolling along the ground for the most part, so if they were set on having Haddin as VC, surely the best scenario would be to bat Haddin at 6 and bat Wade at 7 and keep.

Agar is in the nervous 90s ..

Well, I like to think I can keep a sense of proportion about games. I've never cared about the nationality of the Wimbledon champion or the result of an England football game. But Agar's dismissal for 98 was a real disappointment: I'd happily have given a lot to see him get a hundred. England have so far made six off six overs in the second innings: the game has certainly turned round – for an hour or two at least.

What a debut for Agar i went to bed when he made his half century i should've stayed up and i think they should drop Ed Cowan i just don't understand why Phil Hughes wasn't batting at no 3 & Surprise Surprise Shane Watson is injured again

If Ed Cowan and Shane Watson were horses they would have been shot a long time ago and turned into Findus Beef Lasagna meals. How long are the selectors going to persist with these two jokes?

I went to sleep when he was in the seventies .. wish I had stayed up!
The commentators were very quick to change their tune when he got his eye in from "the innings will be over soon" to "he's only at number 11 because he's on debut and only 19" (he was only 19 .. let me hum that song for the next six hours!)

It's like the start of holidays .. all this cricket stretched out in front of us.

I'd actually forgotten about him being in the team and I couldn't think who was batting 11 until he came out. First thing I thought was, "Why the heck is he batting 11 with a first class average of over 30?", but Botham's comments were pretty right - seniority of the other bowlers took precedence, and no-one in the team is a slouch with the bat (well, apart from Haddin..). I'll put money on him being higher than Siddle in the 2nd innings.
And what Tom ssid also applied to the crowd at the ground. When he got his 50, the Barmy Army gave him a standing ovation!

it's almost like the elephant in the room ...


Should Stuart Broad have walked?

I think that every Australian would have held his ground as well and he had every right to stay right where he was.
Possibly my only problem with it is that with is happening so early in the double Ashes series I wonder if good sportsmanship has any chance in the rest of the Tests.

As far as the supporters go ... There were so many comments about whinging Poms after the Trott (non)dismissal the day before that I think we are very close to being crowned the new whingers.

Geoff Boycott has also said that Aussies never walk, but I'm sure I remember Adam Gilchrist walking more than once. However, men like him are very rare in any country in the modern game.

Certainly a batsman has every right to stay at the wicket if he's given not out. After all, if he's given out caught behind when he knows he didn't get an edge, he has to go.

Leaving questions of sportsmanship aside, the practical lesson seems to be "Don't waste reviews on close-shave decisions: save them for cases where you have a good chance of getting the umpire's decision overturned."