Ashes series 2015

I think in the bowling department they are all right. They have pattison to comeback, faulkener and Abbott the fast bowler who tragically killed Hughes is by all accounts a star in the making. Finch could be a star with the bat if he can translate his one day form to the test arena.

They need to bring back Brad Haddin for the last test. And they have a super quicky in Pat Cummins.

Also the England team only contains 58 syllables in their names. Is that a record for the lowest number for a team

I think England back in Australia in 18 months probably may still have some departments of their own to look at too....especially in the Spinner department

so do we name an unchanged side or give Rashid a try in place of Ali?

The short test match tour of the West Indies was the right time to give Rashid a go but the opportunity was spurned .
For the tour of the UAE to face Pakistan a proper front line test class spinner will be critical to success.
Although Moeen has taken some useful wickets I would not class him as a specialist test class spinner.
He has however scored some useful runs at eight in the Ashes.
This being said it may be that England opt to push Moeen Ali up to open with Cook to open up another bowling slot safe in the knowledge that Rashid can bat a bit as well.

(09-08-2015 21:39 )snookered147 Wrote:  The short test match tour of the West Indies was the right time to give Rashid a go but the opportunity was spurned .
For the tour of the UAE to face Pakistan a proper front line test class spinner will be critical to success.
Although Moeen has taken some useful wickets I would not class him as a specialist test class spinner.
He has however scored some useful runs at eight in the Ashes.
This being said it may be that England opt to push Moeen Ali up to open with Cook to open up another bowling slot safe in the knowledge that Rashid can bat a bit as well.

If that proved to be the case, they probably would sacrifice Bell to enable that to happen

^ More like they will leave out Lyle

As reported last night Brad Haddin has returned home early "due to family circumstances"

it has gone from bad to worse for the aussie, they drew a rain affected 3 day tour game against northants where crook smashed 142 not out on Saturday, northants got 396 all out, and got 3-38 today. aurstralia were 312-9 dec. if had been a full 3 days I think northants might have won by a narrow margin over slightly weaken aussie which had steve smith has captain and david warner has opening bat.

5th Test at The Oval - England win toss and choose to bowl first.