As I see it, Bresnan's going to be the 5th bowler if we decide to go down that road at any point. With only 5 specialist batsmen they reckon him, Swann and Broad would bolster the batting line-up further down.

No real surprises in the squad for me; the guys on Sky were talking about Tremlett on Wednesday, so I reckon they'd been given the nod about him going before the announcement.

Do you not think Monty is more of a shock that Tremlett??

Aye. Bumble tweeted earlier in the week that he expected Tremlett to be selected, then the evening before the announcement Sky were talking up Panesar's chances.

Let's just hope that Swann stays fit, because the Aussies will love the chance to have another slog at Monty.

In all honesty, no. He's taken wickets this summer, had a half decent record last time and is a known, liked, face around the squad. I never expected them to pick Deidre as the second spinner, so he was the obvious selectors pick for my money.

I realise stats are not the be all and end all and other factors are taken into account. However, below are the stats of the 3 most likely candidates to be Graeme Swann's no.2.

Bearing in mind Adil Rashid and James Tredwell have been in and around the squad (albeit not playing too much for the last couple or three years). James Tredwell did an excellent job when he deputised for Swanny in Bangladesh. Adil Rashid was told to go away and work on his game with his county team.


A U Rashid (Yorkshire) 504.4 67 1784 57 31.29 5-87 3 0
A U Rashid (Yorkshire) 16 24 8 732 76 45.75 0 6 14 0
22 years old playing for Yorkshire in division 1


M S Panesar (Sussex) 516.2 135 1328 52 25.53 5-44 2 0
M S Panesar (Sussex) 15 19 5 154 46* 11.0 0 0 1 0
28 years old playing for Sussex in division 2


J C Tredwell (Kent) 348.1 61 1098 37 29.67 7-22 2 0
J C Tredwell (Kent) 11 18 2 472 115 29.5 1 1 20 0
28 years old playing for Kent in division 1


For me, taking the bowling AND batting stats into account, the fielding ability, the ages, the division played in and future potential I only see 1 choice in the 3 players above. Plus the fact leg spin offers a more varied attack should 2 spinners be used. There is even a case for Tredwell to be selected ahead of Monty

And he's an absolute liability in the field.

I will be interested to see, if he plays, if Panesar has developed much since his previous stint in the team. His two weaknesses, aside from his batting, are his fielding and his lack of variation, which for a slow left armer is quite important (ask Daniel Vettori). There are some good players of spin in that Australia side, particularly Hussey & Clarke, so if he does play and he hasn't moved on, he'll get found out. The SCG is not the dustbowl it once was either.

The only other one people will query is Bresnan and it appears that the ECB have gone for continuity on this one, taking him over the less experienced Shazad. Say what you like about Flower, but he's got good results with a largely settled side, so on this occasion it makes sense.

If Panesar had improved that much, wouldn't you have expected him to have ripped it up in Division 2 this year rather than just being relatively good - even given it hasn't been the hottest of summers?

Apparently Geoff Miller approached Martyn Moxon to ask about taking Rashid as part of the development squad and it was Moxon who suggested if he wasn't going on the main Ashes tour he would benefit from a winter away from cricket.

I think a lot of people make too much of the difference between the divisions in terms of players getting selected for England. Panesar has only ever played in Division 2, except possibly a few irregular games for Northants while still at Uni, yet for his first couple of years with England he looked like he was there to stay at Test level. The same applies to a lot of other players with plenty of Tests under their belts: Cook, Finn, Morgan, Harmison (Durham were only promoted in 2005, by which time his Test career had already peaked).

In a sense I don't think it makes a huge difference whether players are picked for the main tour squad or the Development squad. During recent times the selectors have shown considerable flexibility in not only co-opting Development Squad players into the main squad once the tour is underway but also in picking them in the Test XI, e.g. Finn last winter. The fact that, for instance, Bresnan is in the main squad and Shahzad in the shadow squad clearly gives an indication of their preferences at this stage, but that's not necessarily set in stone.

Reading between the lines it looks like they want the option of picking Bresnan as a fifth bowler who can bat at seven if we need a win to square the series at Sydney. Personally I'd have had Rashid in mind for a similar role in the same circumstances, on a ground that has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for spinners in recent decades. Had Rashid gone with the Development squad he may well have ended up playing a Test ahead of Panesar, just as Tredwell played ahead of Rashid last winter. I just hope Moxon knows what he's doing.

can see swann really coming of age on this tour. he's already one of the cleverest spin bowlers in the world and has the knack of coming on to bowl and getting a wicket almost straight away. it will be nice to see the aussies up against it in the spin dept for once

gonna be a tight series though, possibly a draw