Ashes series - more trouble for Australia

The Australian team seemed to plunge into more problems on the Ashes series - recalling a person who was removed from the big original list of 17 only yesterday. Usman Khawaja was the beneficiary of a back injury to the vice-captain Michael Clarke - one that has been afflicting the batsman for quite sometime now.
The batsman was suffering from bad form in the previous tour to India - this injury coming at the start of the series must have given him and his captain a head-ache alright.

 
The captain himself is under pressure to get his act right in this series and bring back the urn to the Aussie sub-continent. He has lost two ashes series and another defeat now will put him under tremendous pressure. He put up a brave face at the conference today but agrees in the perception that his job is on the line.

Simon Katich and Marcus North however agree that Anderson will be handy in the Brisbane test. Even though Mitchell Johnson has mentioned that he will target the English captain in the test match, the general feeling that one gets on reading these articles is that the Aussies have really gone soft. Or are they really feeling the heat after the initial warm-up matches that the Poms played?

After today's development, I would feel that the English are slightly ahead (55-45) of the Australian team in this series. Let us see how the next 2 days pan out before the start of the first test.

Related articles

• English talk up Ashes chances (3news.co.nz)
• Ashes series - Australia prune their squad (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Ashes series - Is the new Australia same as old England?

Years ago, when the Aussies were beating anyone and everyone who played them in test matches, England were a sorry lot. They picked players in the hope that they would perform. A player would be selected for a match only to be dropped the next one, without any reason. Even captains were not spared - the English team resembled the tube stations that dot all across the country - players going in and out of the team regularly.

How times have changed - Australia are resembling their ashes counterpart now. Today's announcement was something that would have done the English team proud. SEVENTEEN!!! 17 players for the first test in Brisbane. What were the selectors thinking? 

Going into details of the squad, let us see was it really required?  The players selected include - Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger

The players likely to play the test at this time are Katich, Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz. The remaining 3 slots are open - one is the No.6 slot where North seems to be the front-runner and in all likelihood will play in the first test. The other two are the slots of the pace bowlers - Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus will be the first choices with Bollinger in the hunt in case of an injury.


Why then did the selectors choose 4-5 more players than the usual list? Of course, injury worries are there but that doesn't necessitate the selection of so many players. Are the selectors trying to confuse their opponents? Michael Hussey is too good a player who can be replaced given the current status of Aussie cricket - then, why go for players like Ferguson? Is it the presence of a person by name Greg Chappell, who is introducing these "novel" ideas? Or are the Aussies really confused? Whatever it is, they are probably the New England team now. Will their performance resemble the English also? Time will tell.

Related articles

• Ashes series - starting soon (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• The Ashes 2010: England bowlers skip Hobart warm-up to tune up in Brisbane (telegraph.co.uk)