England aim for Ashes glory Down Under
England has announced a 16 member squad for the Ashes series that is set to take place in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 from next month.
The squad includes two surprise selections in Chris Tremlett and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Monty-Panesar-c2024 as the Poms aim to win their first series down under in 23 years.
The rest of the squad is more or less the same as expected with the nucleus of the Test team that won the Test series against Pakistan 3-1 being retained for the tour. That will comprise of five Test matches in what is being dubbed as the biggest contest
of the year especially after the English team’s 2-1 win at home in 2009.
However, their record in recent Test tours of Australia is abysmal to say the least they have not won more than a Test since the 2-1 win in 1986-87.
They plummeted to an all time low in 2006 when they were whitewashed 5-0 by Ricky Ponting’s team that was a swansong series for the trio of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer.
The Poms will be led by Andrew Strauss, who would be opening with Alastiar Cook, who was retained in the team after a potentially career saving ton in the third Test at The Oval.
Otherwise, he had a wretched summer failing to score even a single fifty besides The Oval effort in six Test matches.
Another cause of concern is Kevin Pietersen, the man who played a pivotal part in the success in 2005 in arguably the greatest Test series of all time.
KP had an ordinary time in the Tests against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and he would be the centre of attention when the tour kicks-off with the first match the Gabba in Brisbane.
The rest of the batting strength revolves around the likes Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan. Morgan especially has given a new fresh look to the English middle order with his uninhibited approach to batting.
The Irishman started the Test series against Pakistan with a bang scoring a class hundred on a bowler friendly surface at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Although, he failed to replicate the performance in the remaining three matches, he was back to his brilliant best in the ODI series. Where he reeled off three consecutive scores of fifty plus and capped it off with a remarkable match winning hundred in
the last match at Southampton.
Ian Bell, on the other hand missed out on the Test series against Pakistan due to an ankle injury that he sustained earlier in the summer during the second ODI against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, a match that the hosts lost in a stunning fashion.
He is another class act in the batting department and would be heavily relied upon Down Under.
The bowling attack looks impressive on paper led by James Anderson, who had a brilliant run in swing friendly conditions against Pakistan. Stuart Broad and Steven Finn also enjoyed success against the Asians yet their real test would be against the Aussies,
who are equally at ease against pace and bounce in their own backyard.
The spin department would be handled by the classy Graeme Swann, who is the best spinner in the game presently.
The return of the ebullient Panesar is set to add energy and spark to the line-up.
The wicket-keeping will be taken care of by Matt Prior, who also had an outstanding series against Pakistan including a century in the opening match at Trent Bridge.
England Ashes squad, Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Steve Davies, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Chris Tremlett,
Monty Panesar
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