With only just over ten weeks until the 2017/18 Ashes kicks off at the Gabbatoir in Brisbane, the powers that be will now be well and truly in squad selection mode and very soon their list of around 25 possible tourists will have to be dwindled down to sixteen. While there are eight absolute bankers for the squad announced in a few weeks time, there are question marks over the heads of several batters, a back-up seamer or two and maybe the second spinner. Anyone who watched the Sky selection special on the verdict would have seen how subjective an England touring party really is, so really nothing is guaranteed. Here is my squad (with a bit of reasoning behind them) that I have picked to go out to Australia and retain the Ashes...
We'll start with the no brainers:
Joe Root (c) - say no more, gun.
Ben Stokes (vc) - a summer to remember for the vice-captain, it seems he has come a real long way since the last tour of Australia..
Alastair Cook - ex-captain, rock at the top of the order. Inked in.
Jonny Bairstow (wk) - gloves or no gloves, Jonny is in the side for his consistent run making.
Jimmy Anderson - latest member of the 500 club will take the new ball with his partner in crime.
Stuart Broad - overshadowed by Anderson this summer, but make no mistake, Broad is a world-class bowler these days. Unfinished business in Australia.
Moeen Ali - a class act with bat and ball, Mo has come into his own of late. Like JB, the argument is he should be batting one higher than he currently is.
Chris Woakes - hardly involved with England this summer due to injury, but before then, one of England's outstanding performers in Test cricket. Eighteen Test matches into his career, he's more than ready to take on the Australia's.
Ben Foakes (wk) - won't be a 'no brainer' for most, but will be a Test cricketer for England very soon and every sixteen-man tour squad will need two wicket keepers. Foakes the best gloveman in the country currently, and would give a very viable option of releasing Bairstow of the gloves to bat at number three or five in the long-term top order maybe.
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Now for the remaining seven members:
Back up seamers:
Of the remaining selections for me, this is the most straightforward. As good as Broad and Anderson are, the options for a third seamer to add to the outstanding Ben Stokes, quite simply have include some variety.
With no real left-arm options standing out (too early for Sam Curran), we are looking at right-arm medium-fast options, or in the case of Mark Wood, right-arm thunderbolts. He's on the plane for his pace alone. History tells us England will likely use five frontline seamers (forgetting Stokes for a second) throughout the series, and two or three Test matches from Wood would give England the extra firepower they may well need. Injury permitting expect Woakes to start at Brisbane, but don't be surprised if we see Wood somewhere nearer Perth.
The other seamer on the plane has to be Toby Roland-Jones. He has broken into the side fantastically well this summer and no-one can fault him for anything he's done up until now. There is an argument to say he should be inked in for Brisbane and Woakes left on the bench, which is a possibility for sure. For me Woakes is the more complete Test bowler but TRJ has done more than enough to make the party.
A mention for Jake Ball who will be very close and will surely be included in the Lions squad if he doesn't sneak in ahead of one of these two. An option to come in Tremlett style later in the series if injuries occur. Steve Finn hasn't quite done enough unfortunately.
Top order batsmen:
I could have left this until the end, but getting stuck into the most tricky part is always a good idea. The men in possession are Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley and both have had their troubles this summer (but remember so have most batters). The question the selectors need to ask themselves is are their significantly better players out there than these two?
Other names that have been mentioned include Ballance, Jennings, Northeast and Hameed. Jennings will I'm sure play Test cricket again, but the timing is not right for him and his game. Are Northeast and Ballance better players than the two in possession? I don't believe they are. So I very much think for that reason, Stoneman and Westley will both be on the plane and given another opportunity to stake their claim.
The intriguing one is Haseeb Hameed. I was lucky enough to see the youngster play two Tests out in India and there is something very special about him. A poor championship summer means he is by no means a guaranteed tourist, but I fully expect England to try and squeeze him in if at all possible and with a few runs in the warm-up games, there is no reason why he can't be in that top three come Brisbane on 23rd November. For me, Hameed, Westley and Stoneman all make the squad.
Middle-order bats:
With the above retaining their places and the addition of Hameed, there is space for one more batting position and again I believe we will stick with the current occupier in Dawid Malan. Again he has had his troubles this Summer, but would Alex Hales, Jos Buttler, Ben Duckett, Sam Billings have had the same troubles against the moving ball on very sporting wickets favouring the bowlers? Yes, they probably would have struggled as well.
I think Duckett will travel with the Lions also to Australia alongside the likes of Ball, Dawson, Northeast, Finn, while Alex Hales & Jos Buttler will end up playing more of a T20 winter for a franchise in either the Big Bash or similar.
Finally... the second spinner:
Now Adil Rashid I feel very sorry for. He had a cracking Winter in India and was England's top wicket taker, but for whatever reason he has been pushed aside of late for Mason Crane of Hampshire. I really am not sure why this is as Adil is a fine, fine cricketer and still yet to peak, but we must trust the judgement here that young Mason is going to be the next best leggie in the country. Unlikely this role will get much of a gig during the series anyway, so I'd think Crane would get the nod for the experience of an Ashes tour.
So with the sixteen-man squad finalised, the XI entrusted for Brisbane could be whatever England decide and much will depend on the outcome of the warm-up games. If I was Joe Root right now, I would want one of these two balances:
Cook, Stoneman
Bairstow, Root, Westley/Malan
Stokes, Ali, Woakes, Foakes (wk)
Broad, Anderson
Cook, Stoneman
Hameed, Root, Westley/Malan
Stokes, Bairstow, Ali
Woakes, Broad, Anderson
Anything could happen with the batting order if we are honest but I think come November these will be the sixteen on the plane to Australia, only time will tell if I am right!
Predicted squad: Root, Stokes, Ali, Anderson, Bairstow, Broad, Cook, Crane, Foakes, Hameed, Malan, Roland-Jones, Stoneman, Westley, Woakes, Wood.