bring on 4 spinners

whys that so you can borrow 1?? huaritz is dog iron he wouldnt be able to play club cricket over here never mind the ashes

Given the reports I've read about Cardiff, I'd say 2 spinners is definitely the way to go there.

Swann and Panesar or Rashid ?

Rashid will give us more strength in the batting lineup and Panesar has been slipping this last year

Panesar looked innocuous at Northants v Surrey last weekend. Someone said he's taken six wickets in all competitons this season. I'm not certain that's accurate, but if it is he shouldn't even be considered.

Definately, it might be the only real turning wicket we get this summer so we need to maximise it.

I'd prefer to see Rashid get some 4 day cricket under his belt before throwing him in against the Aussies, he's hardly played since September despite, or because of, touring.

Panesar's ability was always a bit overblown because he's a bit of a cult character, but he does seem to have gone downhill quite quickly.

Swann is becoming a shoe-in and I'd probably see who is performing better out of Panesar and Rashid for their counties before choosing one, if a second spinner is to be picked.

England's entire selection policy will depend on how many overs they think they can get out of Flintoff in a day.

If the answer is "not many" then it'll be four seamers and one spinner - no question. They won't want to risk carrying Flintoff in a three seamer attack.

If Flintoff is good for 15 overs plus in a day, there's a chance England could go with two spinners - particularly if we get a hot, dry summer leading to cracking, dusty pitches.

Personally, I'd be surprised to see England go with anything other than Flintoff, Swann, Broad, Anderson, Sidebottom as a bowling attack.

Me too, I've thought that for a while. Sidebottom was bowling 88 mph last night in the T20, suggesting that he's fit again. He's not the same threat at 82 mph, but at that pace, with the different angle and the variation that a left arm seamer gives you, I'd be pretty surprised if Sidebottom didn't replace Onions, how could count himself more than a little unlucky.

handy andy from the muppets. i will pick our team soon

What about Onions??

50/50 call on him or Sidebottom IMO, but I can see England going for the tried and trusted in the first Test.

I agree, that's how the selectors are likely to be thinking. The other ten places are a formality as long as there are no injuries.

If Flintoff breaks down again will the selctors pick Broad as high as 7, as they did against West Indies, and include both Sidebottom and Onions? Or maybe Bresnan would then come back into the equasion due to his stronger batting?

super cricket ashes thread ????who's the super ashes team

If Flintoff is fully fit i think the team is already done and dusted for the first test and it'll be-

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Onions
Anderson

As the series wears on i can see Vaughan/Bell putting pressure on Collingwood and Sidebottam/Harmison putting pressure on Onions.

I just don't see Onions taking wickets against the Australian batting line up if conditions don't suit.

English seamer that has done well against a poor side in English conditions in spring. Quite a few have susequently vanished without trace.

If taking wickets against whichever team you play against in the county championship is not the criteria the ECB pick their international team on then please tell me what is??

I'm sure if Harmison or Monty had returned to the county fold and taken as many wickets as Onions has then they would be straight back in.

It's usually the criteria for the Headingley test, when plenty of the leading county championship wicket ticket takers get picked. Trouble is they dont often do that well against the better test teams elsewhere.

England squad for the Ashes series:

Andrew Strauss (captain)
James Anderson
Ian Bell
Ravinder Bopara
Tim Bresnan
Stuart Broad
Paul Collingwood
Alastair Cook
Andrew Flintoff
Graham Onions
Monty Panesar
Kevin Pietersen
Matt Prior
Adil Rashid
Ryan Sidebottom
Graeme Swann

Looking through that squad I don't see any involvement for either Rashid or Bresnan. Especially Bresnan to be honest as I don't see what he offers at Test level.

Bell is probably only there to make up the numbers, however, if Bopara is struggling, Bell is probably better placed to come into the starting XI than others such as Vaughan, Key or Shah.

Similarly with Panesar, I can't see him displacing Swann from the starting XI for the first couple of Tests. However, if the Aussies work him out pretty quickly, you can rely on Panesar to come in and do a job, especially on the English wickets. Probably what shades it for Swann is his batting and his variation. Not sure how much work Panesar has done on the latter but he has little hope of competing with Swann with bat in hand.

Probably the only selection headache for Flower/Strauss is Onions or Sidebottom. Both have done well against poorer performing Test nations (WI/NZ most notably) and although Sidebottom has more experience, I think I'd go for Onions initially. He is taking wickets for fun at County level, something Sidebottom hasn't had the opportunity to do with coming back from injury and almsot immediately joining up with the T20 squad. Given the poor performance from ENgland in the tournament, I think it would have been more beneficial for Sidebottom to have just got in some County Championship form with Notts.

Based on that, for the first Test I'd go with:

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Onions

How has Bresnan got in ahead of Harmison?

Pleasantly surprised by that, hopefully it means they have washed their hands of Harmison for good, at long last.

Despite the fact he has been in excellent form this season?

Like he was last season.

We've seen this pattern before, he gets dropped, does well for his county, gets recalled, does OK when he first comes back to the test team, drops off again sharpishly.

He's had his time, we have to move on and give some younger players a chance to establish themselves rather than have them just keeping Harmison's place warm until he can be d again.