England decide bigger the better in their Ashes squad for Australia

England decide bigger the better in their Ashes squad for Australia | Mike Selvey
by Mike Selvey
Cricket news, scores and fixtures | Sport | The GuardianYesterday, 21:49

If size really does matter then England are on top already but the pace options have a samey look

For an England side that is generally so sure of the direction in which it is heading, the Ashes touring party contains more than an element of uncertainty. A squad that would normally comprise 16 men has been bolstered by the addition of a spare batsman, with the extra proviso that Tim Bresnan, yet to recover from the stress fractures of the back that has sidelined him since the Durham Test match, will also travel with them to continue his rehabilitation.

The Hampshire opener Michael Carberry has been included as a reserve top-order player, at the expense of Nick Compton who will be utterly devastated given that Carberry's credentials, in the broadest terms, do not match his. While the national selector, Geoff Miller, insists in that hackneyed phrase that "the door is not closed" on Compton, it is very clearly has been shut firmly. To be brutal, his personality, in addition to his style of batting (which suited them well enough in India) obviously does not fit into the mould that they would wish for an England cricketer.

This is a vital reserve position given that for all their success during the summer, England time and again found themselves in trouble against the new ball. But to Carberry has been added a middle-order batsman, Gary Ballance, whose presence in an expanded squad is the clearest indication that they have yet to trust Jonny Bairstow, selected as the incumbent frontline No6 batsman and reserve keeper on the tour.

Ballance is another player who has been advanced through the England Performance Programme and the Lions, and is a young batsman of whom at least one selector has been speaking in particularly glowing terms for most of the summer.

Monty Panesar is included and credit goes to all concerned for the work done in getting him back on track in order to ensure his presence. The ECB played a significant part in helping broker his move from Sussex to Essex and Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, was at pains to point out that the sort of professional help that was part of the process was of a kind they would offer anyone in a similar situation.

"He has worked very hard to rectify things," added Miller. "He is a proven Test-match bowler, and he knows what is expected of him. We have every confidence in him."

Much earlier in the summer, the England bowling coach David Saker mused that he wouldn't mind going to Australia with all the giant bowlers they could muster and in this he appears to have got his wish. There had been a debate centred on which of Steve Finn, Chris Tremlett and Boyd Rankin might miss out, but all three are making the trip alongside Stuart Broad. If size really does matter then England are on top already.

It does, however, carry with it a samey look, and if each of them would be a nasty proposition on a bouncy pitch, then they could equally be negated by something a little more sluggish. There has been a lot of talk from Australia about lively surfaces as a riposte to those encountered this summer, but they might reason that England could possibly flourish just as well on these.

However, in the absence in particular of Graham Onions, there is an obvious lack of new-ball cover for Jimmy Anderson should he suffer injury in the immediate lead into a Test. Onions is the leading wicket-taker in county cricket this season but there is certainly a school of thought that says he is provided with some flirty pitches on which to perform. There may, too, be a hangover from New Zealand where his only match, against New Zealand A in Queenstown, proved a personal disaster at a time when he might have forced his way back into the team. Nonetheless, he could still be drafted in should something happen to Anderson and in the interim will be playing for KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Meanwhile, his Durham team-mate Ben Stokes has been included.

In the longer term, Stokes is viewed as an all-rounder who could bat at No6 and act as a fourth seamer who can bowl rapidly – and in particular reverse-swing the ball well in a skiddy manner, a particular asset on low pitches in the later stages of games where bowled and lbw become important modes of dismissal. It is his potential and rapid improvement that is being recognised now.

The England Performance Squad (EPS) has one particularly notable inclusion in Sam Robson, the Middlesex opener. Robson, a high scorer this season, is Australian but has recently become England-qualified. Morris says that the batsman is fully committed to the EPS, which is not quite the same as saying he is committed to England. Indeed, Cricket Australia went so far recently as to list him among those Australians having good county seasons.

It is perfectly feasible that Australia could lift him straight from the EPS and play him in a Test match. That possibility would not be negated even were he to play for the Lions, the criteria being Under-19 internationals, ODIs or Tests. The ECB is flirting with this one, and one certainly cannot criticise a young player for wishing to keep his options open.

Meanwhile it will not have escaped the attention of the Australian media, which enjoys making capital out of such things, that Ballance, Rankin and Stokes were born in Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland and New Zealand respectively.

Ashes 2013-14
England cricket team
Cricket
Mike Selvey

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