Hobson's Choice

It is interesting that England rarely announce a team before Australia. What they tend to do is spin. The Aussies like a bit of spin themselves. A clear message from their camp is the track at Adelaide has been prepared for their fast bowlers. There is no place for a 2nd spinner. This could be a mistake. It provides England with a real opportunity because the pressure will be firmly on the Aussie 3 way attack of McGrath, Lee & Clarke. Clarke is probably the most destructive of the three and much responsibility will fall on his broad shoulders. McGrath is obviously not 100% and England should take advantage of this by disheartening him and Lee, whilst impressively fast, cannot possibly maintain his pace for any long spells of bowling. And now in the middle of all the spin and hype the Australian media have made a fatal mistake of writing off England completely. This is good news. It shows that the old Aussie cock-sure complacency is back. Time for action.

Whilst I am big on cricket stats I am also a firm believer that every test match is different and no outcome can every be realistically predicted. Alot are comparing this series with the 2005 Ashes and saying that England were 0-1 down after the first test and came back to win. This doesn't mean that the omens are good for a repeat performance. England didn't win in 2005 because of omens. They won because they had a plan for each of the Aussie team. They worked Langer & Ponting over. They bowled short to Hayden and always had two men on the drive which distracted him. Freddie came round the wicket to Gilchrest. They allowed no room for young Clarke to score. And it is this kind of thinking, along with the Aussies complacency, that will allow England to win again.

The other piece of news that is worth noting is that Vaughn is likely to play at Melbourne on Boxing Day. Whilst we need his captaincy and he has a superb record down under, it provides a terrible dilemma if he is fit. Who do you remove? Collingwood would be the obvious choice. But MV is better at 3 than 4. That would mean pushing Bell down the order which I think would be a mistake because of the trouble he has early on in his innings. The last thing you want is Bell's first ball to be off Warne. Perhaps it might be worth putting a flexible batsman like MV lower down the order, especially has he has no match fitness as of yet. If MV is fit it will provide the Selectors (who always know best - even if they are out of sync with the rest of public opinion) with a real mind-bender. Not just who they leave out but where MV will sit in the order. Of course, in a way, this is a nice luxury choice to have. However, the reality is that it might all back fire. MV could come out and get a pair simply because he isn't match fit. And what if we win at Adelaide & Perth? Change a winning side? The English Selectors have never done that. Conventional wisdom prevents them. But take a look at Lara's West Indies during their height of success a few years ago. Lara always changed a winning side, bringing rookies and players back from injury, making use of the high morale. Perhaps it is time for a change of policy...or even a change of selectors. Personally, I'd like to see Botham & Willis in there making decisions and even Boycott. Regardless of what you think of the former, you owe him your allegiance because he remains one of the finest batsmen we ever produced.

Anyway, those decisions are a way off yet. The most important one that needs to be made is for this week. Giles or Monty? No Brainer. Bring in Monty for Giles and Mahmood for Anderson. I would suggest Collingwood should go but he is in very good nick at the moment. I still maintain that he isn't a test player. Bit like Nick Knight or Graham Hick, both excellent one day players but struggled in the longer form of the game. My good friend Richard Bailey has a decent tactical brain and he suggests this is the right team for Friday:

"Strauss

Cook

Bell

Pieterson

Flintoff

Collingwood

Jones

Mahmood

Hoggard

Harmison

Panesar

7 batsmen and 7 bowlers. That makes 14. Cool or what.

Proper batting to number seven.

Plus Mahmood for a talented slog.

Four proper fast bowlers, two spinners (one world class spinner plus KP, who can turn the ball more than Giles). And then you have Collingwood's medium pace if things get shitty.Its got to be the dream team."

I agree. Look at Collingwood down the order. This is the right place for him. He is not as good as either KP or Freddie and therefore should bat lower.