Lutters’ Ashes Lines (part three)

The batsmen got runs, in particular Ian Bell, whose 192 essentially won England the game, and the back-up bowlers got wickets, showing England’s current strength in that department. Now comes the tough bit for both sets of selectors: who makes the final 11? Australia have cut their 17 down to 13, dropping their main spinner in favour of an unheard-of left-arm spinner, presumably because Kevin Pietersen has a history of getting out to that style of bowling. To be honest, Australia haven’t had a decent spinner since Shane Warne and Stuart McGill retired, so I doubt that it will make much difference. Australia have a few worries over injury and form, but I reckon that their side will be relatively familiar to anybody who has noticed cricket’s existence in the past couple of years. The England selectors don’t have as tough a job ahead, with the final 11 pretty much set in stone. Here, in my view, is the likely starting 11: 1. Andrew Strauss – he’s the captain and will get in whatever. He’ll probably take throw-ins and free kicks too. 2. Alastair Cook – rescued himself from oblivion with a couple of timely knocks, and is the preferred opening option to Jonathan Trott. 3. Jonathan Trott – has played one game against Australia and got a big hundred. He will also get on their nerves with his seemingly endless routines for each delivery. Bowls some smelly medium pacers (don’t we all?) which could be utilised. 4. Kevin Pietersen – one of the few players that the Aussies are scared of (some may argue that they should be scared of more), but he is out of form. It’s a bit of a risk picking him but his class should shine through, and the selectors would open themselves up for criticism if they dropped him and England lost. Bowls a bit of off-spin. 5. Paul Collingwood – cut him open and you’d find Three Lions! He’s a touch fortunate to still be in the side as he hasn’t scored hatfuls of runs in recent times, but he is a “street-fighter”, as they say, a great fielder and a leader, so worth his place. He bowls pretty tidily too, which could be useful as England will only pick four specialists with the ball. 6. Ian Bell – can only score runs for England at number six, but a class act, as he showed against Australia A. Demoralising for a bowling side to see him coming in as low as six. 7. Matt Prior – another quality batsman, who has worked very hard on his keeping. Will score plenty of runs and shepherd the tail home. 8. Stuart Broad – he can bat, as he showed last summer with his maiden ton, but is picked for his bowling, which is currently going pretty well. Needs to watch his temper, and the Aussies will try to exploit that particular weakness. 9. Graeme Swann – England’s potential series winner in my opinion. Currently the best spinner in the world? Debatable, but I think will shine this series. He has the right mentality and likes a challenge. Can bat a bit too. 10. James Anderson – The spearhead of the England attack, he will not see as much swing as he’s used to in England, but he can “reverse” swing the ball, which will be a significant weapon. Will be night-watchman. 11. Steven Finn – young and under a little pressure to perform with Tremlett, Bresnan and Shahzad all getting wickets in Hobart, but he has always answered his critics in the past, so one presumes that he will do so again. Can’t bat for toffee. As you can probably tell, I am really looking forward to this series. The English cricketing public believe we have a chance in this series for the first time in more than 20 years, and more importantly, the England squad believe it too, which probably hasn’t been the case Down Under for the same period of time.