Selections Becoming Clearer But Plenty At Stake

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Still Plenty to Play For

 

August 20^th

 
 

[11:00 CEST] England look set to include Chris Tremlett tomorrow, in what is a trial of his preparedness for a potential Ashes tour this winter. However, there is still the option of Chris Woakes if a like-for-like replacement is required, although this is regarded my quite a lot of pundits as a left-field pick. It does not look like Finn or Kerrigan are likely to make the final cut.

For Australia, it looks as if Hughes and Wade are likely to come in. Ryan Harris looks likely to play, but this may be conditional on Shane Watson’s fitness – he has bowled in the nets this week, but at well below full pace. As Watson is the emergency seamer, it would be a risk to play both Harris and Watson unless Australia are confident that both will last the Test. Hughes is likely to replace Khawaja at #3. Wade is expected to play as a specialist bat at #6, which could be at the expense of Smith or Watson. Faulkner’s chances of making it all 18 of 18 from the squad playing a Test look to have receded. It is unusual to play two wicketkeepers in a side, but Australia have done it occasionally in the past and England have regularly been playing both Jonny Bairstow and Matt Prior in Tests, also at 6 and 7.

Although the series is decided, this is far from a dead rubber. There is a huge difference in terms of momentum going into the return series between a 4-0 result and 3-1, quite apart from the points in the ICC Test Championship: 4-0 will place England clearly #2 behind South Africa; 3-1 would leave India firmly in second and would break Australia’s winless sequence. For various players this Test is make or break. Tremlett or Woakes would be playing for a place on tour this winter. Jonny Bairstow is also probably playing for his place, at least in the Test team, although not in the squad for Australia. Joe Root will need to convince the doubters that his best place in the side is as an opener: if not, Root and Bairstow are probably competing for one spot at #6.  For Australia, many of the side are under pressure, or searching for a clear role, particularly Hughes, Khawaja, Watson, Smith, Wade and Haddin, who has announced his intention of playing through to the 2015 World Cup, but whose form has been shaky this summer.

Once again, it is interesting to see the reaction of the bookmakers. The odds on an Australia victory are the shortest of the series so far, at least before play has started in a Test, although still firmly the outsider of the three possible results. It has not been lost on anyone that, during the years of Australian dominance, the final Test of a series frequently was won by England, so no one is ruling out Australia also inverting the progression of the series. It may be 3-0, but this has been no rout: in that sense it is similar to the 2004 series against New Zealand that England won 3-0, after having been up against it in all three Tests, only to pull away in the end in each Test and finish with a whitewash that was possibly hard on New Zealand, who deserved a better result from the series. England are making all the right noises about not losing focus and could really do with putting in one really big performance to silence the doubters, some of whom even believe that 2-1 to Australia would be a fairer reflection of the balance of play in the series.