Australia opt against rolling the dice with stability key to Ashes squad selection | Geoff Lemon

Selectors have stuck with David Warner and their first-choice bowling attack but the question of reserves is where it gets interesting

Choosing Test cricket teams can be a fraught business. Competing claims and agendas create the conflict that makes selection a staple of reporting on the sport. When a team rarely changes it reflects either a limitation of resources or a period of rare stability. Australia’s men’s team is currently enjoying the latter. Aside from some tweaks for Asian tours, in the last couple of years the team sheet has been pro forma.

It is the same again for the upcoming World Test Championship final and Ashes campaign, according to the squad that covers the first three of those six Test matches in England across June and July. From those 17 names the first-choice XI is an easy pick. David Warner may be running out of road, but he and Steve Smith are still the batting mainstays, first-choice picks for a decade. Usman Khawaja’s late-career revival has made him indispensable as an opener.

Continue reading...