The Times were reporting that Vince has "earned" a recall earlier on today.
Really? That seems a bit odd all things considered.
How many do I get? I always forget! I'll go with the 16 precedent that Wareham established but in theory they could take as many as they want right? They could take any number of unproven Test players! Some of the exercise always feels a bit arbritary because of that - a bit of a throwback to the 'who makes the boat?' kind of era when this stuff was really critical. Not a lot you can do if your top 3 are out of form or injured and the next best guys are 3 weeks boat journey away! These days I don't think it should carry quite as much weight as it seems. For example, say Hameed goes on the Lions, bangs a couple of hundreds while our top order fails (and before I haven't checked the series a concurrent so this could be purely hypothetical) why shouldn't England then call him up? I actually wonder if those players around the fringes may in fact be better off for their career prospects to do exactly that - go on a Lions tour and bang a few runs that makes them look good in comparison to players struggling in an Ashes series. Always felt a bit sorry for Carberry in that regard - only really ever got a run in a flippin difficult Ashes series and, in the context, did OK. He may well have not been good enough but it's not exactly a fair crack of the whip compared with others.
Let's start with the 'no-brainers'; literally in the case of some of them it seems'
Root
Cook
Stokes
Bairstow (Clearly a guaranteed name on the lineup but I don't feel he had a great summer - I know he had a fantastic run but I sometimes feel that it's been decreed from on high that his place is never questioned now and I'm not sure he's quite done enough to be beyond all doubt yet.)
Ali (I think he can be considered secure now surely?)
Anderson
Broad
So they we have a problem in itself - of a squad of 16 I think there are only 7 guys who absolutely nailed on. Ie. It would be shocking to ridiculous if they didn't take them. OK, it would be a bit of a shock if they didn't take Wood, Woakes etc but these are players who have been left out in the recent future. Only 7 core players - think about Ashes winning teams before and we pretty much knew our starting 11 before the squad was picked. Now everyone's guess is as good as everyone else. So under Warehams rules I get 5 additional batsman, 2 additional seamers, 1 extra spinner and a back up Keeper. I think the balance of that is wrong so I'm going to take a extra seamer and lose a batsmen.
Batsmen (4)
Stoneman (Deadman's shoes - he's the current occupant and no one has made a great case to replace him).
Lyth (That's my mediocre England performer leftfield selection of choice - my equivalent of Jack's Robson pick. Of all of those players I thought he looked best on balance. Don't like any of them much though).
Ballance (Something just makes me think that his game might be suited to play in Australia - nudges off the backfoot etc. I'd roll the dice, cross my fingers and bung him in at 3).
Hales (I guess. I don't really know. We need some dynamism in the middle order somewhere I think. You could put him, Duckett, Malan, Vince etc in that roll and I don't think I really like any of them very much. They say Hales has changed his game for long format so maybe give him a crack. Another one who I think might like the wickets. Possibly...).
Other thoughts on batting. Truth is I don't like any of them very much. One wild left field strategy might be to promote Moeen to 5 I suppose. It's not like England were that good this Summer that the balance of the side should be seen as sacrosanct but it would obviously be a risk of breaking up a bit of the side that works very well. Hasn't worked as a strategy before but I bet they are seriously thinking about it. I absolutely hated Westley's technique - bat down at an angle to leg across the line of the ball. With extra pace at international level that was just exposed badly - I think Aussie seamers would be delighted if his name was on team sheet for Brisbane. Hameed apparently has a partially broken finger - he's clearly going to play for England for a long time. Why risk throwing him in the deep end here? However, I would conscience bringing him in if others struggle - less pressure for a young player. More of a no lose scenario and chance to build up a reputation. It's how a lot of our great players started. I'd have no particular problem of having in the squad if they see that kind of role for him and think it would help his development (I'd leave Lyth out of the above if so) but I wouldn't want him on the team sheet at Brisbane either.
Seamers
Woakes (Obviously really - perfect for England in many ways).
Wood (But slightly reluctantly - sadly, I'm not sure he's physically up to a tour on hard Aussie wickets bowling the way he does).
Finn (Only because it's Australia - huge risk of course).
This is the surprising one. Now Roland-Jones is injured the cupboard actually looks a bit bare here compared with a few years ago. At one stage it felt like we had anything up to half a dozen guys who could come in and do a decent job as the 3rd/4th seamer but it seems like that generation (effectively the secondary bunch in the Broad/Anderson) cohort is basically passed it and there's a slight lack of clear alternatives right now. I'm struggling to think of candidates.
Others;
Jos Buttler (Not really another option but he continues to do little to make his case in the long format - if it was another tour there might be a case for taking someone else along for the ride but can't see the point of that in an Ashes series).
Jack Leach (Honestly I would take Leach - consistently been the best spinner in England over the last 2 years. They're not going to though. They're not going to take Rashid either who seems like the sensible option based on performance and team balance etc. Instead they seem to have anointed Mason Crane - maybe that's fair. But taking a young leggy to Australia seems a huge risk - is he really going to start a game at any point? I could see Leach or Rashid starting a game - I see Crane getting a similar tour to Borthwick last time around. It's weird that when Ashes series in Australia come around selectors are generally very conservative apart from a consistent obsession with trying to unearth a young 'magic' spinner despite the fact that in general, the great man excepted, it doesn't seem to me that spin is particularly successful in Australia other than standard 4th innings situation).
