Strauss capt

Cook v/c
Anderson
Bell
Bresnan
Broad
Collingwood
Davies (wkt)
Finn
Morgan
Panaser
Pietersen
Prior
Swann
Tremlett
Trott

Panesar? FFS!

Glad Rashid hasnt been picked. He'll gain more from being with the development squad rather than his usual winter drinks waiter role and will still be in Aus if needed.

He would if he were in it mate.
Apparently he's been told he needs to "rest", this less than 12 months after being told he needs to play on a more regular basis, which he has done and done as well as any other first division spinner has.

If I were him or Shahzad I'd be majorly frigged off. Panesar and Tremlett ahead of them both? Clearly 2nd division wickets for southern-based counties mean more than test and 1st division wickets if you happen to play for a northern-based county.

Another opener should have been in the Squad due to the fact Alistair Cook has been in terrible form apart from his hundred in the last Test against Pakistan. I suppose they could promote Trott up the order but that would mean wholesale batting line up changes. Rashid should have been picked ahead of Panesar as the second spinner and he can bat and field 100 times better than Panesar ever will be able to.

On the squad picked my side would be:

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior (w/k)
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Finn

Both Rashid and Bopara missout on the development squad too

Thought rashid would have got in the actual squad ahead of Monty although it was interesting that Vaughan said this morning he would have chosen Monty too.

Shame about Shazhad, can only think the extra height/bounce from Tremlett might have been the difference.

Good to see Gale, Lyth and Bairstow all making the devlopment squad.

Shazhad would have been my chioce over Tremlett too. Shazhad has bowled very well in the Tests that he has played and why bring back Tremlett when he wasnt even in the selectors thoughts over the summer????

Monty Panesar can not bat and field and his bowling can be very hit and miss. Rashid should go as 2nd Spinner behind Swann as not only can he bowl he can bat and field aswell shock horror!!!

Maybe he's in as a direct back-up for Broad or Finn if either of them go down injured??
Thing is, Tremlett is more likely to get injured than anyone else in the squad.

Tremlett has simply been picked due to his height and the rock hard wickets out in oz, they assume that he'll get something out of them. We'll see.

Shahzad & Tremlett are totally different types of bowler and that’s not really an either/or choice as I see it. Personally I’d have taken Shahzad instead of Bresnan, who to me is a “typical English county seamer” of the type unlikely to make much impact in Australian conditions. He did well in his Tests in Bangladesh last Winter, and omitting him now would admittedly be harsh, but conditions there couldn’t be more different.

For me Shahzad is a good alternative to Anderson, whereas Tremlett is clearly an alternative to Broad & Finn. After laughably being rested at the start of the season to “manage his workload” Tremlett came good and bowled plenty of overs with good strike & economy rates to finish well up near the top of the final First Class averages. Unlike most extremely tall bowlers he isn’t a beanpole, but a muscular well proportioned athlete. I’ve seen him regularly this year, and his combination of relentless accuracy and extreme lift off a good length at a decent speed make him a particularly awkward proposition for batsmen. Given that he should now be at his peak in his late twenties, and has already played a few Tests with fair success three years ago, it’s a no-brainer to take him now he’s been fully fit for a continuous period for the first time in ages. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if he nudges Finn out of the Test XI, possibly even before the First Test at Brisbane.

Panesar has clearly been picked as an alternative to Swann in case of illness or injury, not as a potential second spinner. I wouldn’t want Rashid as the sole spinner in a Test XI in Australia when he’s completely untried. Whether he should have been tried already is another matter. Personally I’d like to see him get a game at 7, ostensibly as a lower middle order batsman, then he could act as fifth bowler/second spinner without any risk of weakening the bowling from what we’ve had recently, i.e. four front line bowlers. He’s the closest we’ve got to a genuine all-rounder of potential Test quality, certainly much more so than Luke Wright whose bowling is never really likely to be more use than Collingwood’s in Tests.

Frankly it beggars belief that Rashid isn’t even in the performance squad, from which James Harris of Glamorgan is almost an equally baffling omission.