The ashes thread

Now T20 is over we get on to the real stuff the ashes that starts on July 8th. England have announced their 16 man training squad for the ashes with no place in the side for Vaughan and Harmison

England Test squad for the pre-Ashes camp:

Andrew Strauss (captain) (Middlesex), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravinder Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Graham Onions (Durham), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Matt Prior (wk) (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire).

Unfortunately I think Onions and Bresnan will miss out with Ryan Sidebottom and Freddie fully fit

my team for the first test

Cook
Strauss
Bopara
KP
Colly
Prior
Freddie
Broad
Swann
Sidebottom
Anerson

Am not suprised with the squad was not really expecting vaughn or Harmison in the squad even if i would give anything to have vaughny back in and around the team. Am very much looking forward to the ashes for some reason i am full of optimism at the moment when really quite clearly we dont really have a chance but i suppose with Freddie back and fully fit then anything is possible.

For me the team for the first test would be

Cook
Strauss
Bopara
KP
Colly
Freddie
Prior
Broard
Swann
Onions
Anderson

Personally I think we are going to suffer without the likes of Gilly, Hayden and Symonds. They are still a good team, but not what they used to be. The big question is will Shane Watson see out one match without being injured???

I think TMG has the line-up spot on. Freddie will bat at 7 and Sideuknow will get the nod.

Personally I think it is refreshing that neither Vaughan nor Harmison got near the squad (although galling that Owais is not even in the Lions squad and the vastly inferior Eoin Morgan is - and don't get me started on Bell!). Vaughan's top score this season in FC Cricket is 43, and his injury is apparently flaring up again. Harmison should never get to wear the pristine white shirt again.

I saw that Shane Warne was on the wind up, suggesting that England were making a mistake leaving Vaughan out of the squad. I am sure he would be happy if we played a whole team of out of form batsmen.

Harmison isnt needed anymore because England now have a group of young fast bowlers who can crank up to 90+ mph who

Michael Vaughan isn't needed anymore either Ravinder Bopara looks class and He will do well

England have a very exciting team once again

I fear that Bopara may not do so well against Aus, but will be happy to be proved wrong.

Jason H said:

I fear that Bopara may not do so well against Aus

Click to expand...

Me too. I'll probably be proved wrong though, like normal.

1. Strauss
2. Cook
3. Bopara
4. Pieterson
5. Collingwood
6. Prior
7. Flintoff
8. Broad
9. Swann
10.Anderson
11.Harmison

Harmison has taken a load of wickets for Durham and is bowling quickly he deserves to be recalled, its time for the medium pace of Sidebottom to step aside. Onions and Bresnan arnt quite good enough for me yet.

I dont like Collingwood, he batting is very limited but his test record is good, I love watching Ian Bell bat but he has had a bad time of it recently with England so i think we should start with Collingwood at 5.

The rest pick themselves pretty much, lets hope we dont pick a second spinner for Cardiff because we dont have a second one thats good enough after Swann.

This week has been interesting from an Ashes perspective. Anderson looked to me to be bowling very very quickly and well against Warwickshire, which is great to see. Flintoff looks like he could do well in short bursts. I see Broad as our "control" bowler, while it was good to see Monty get a few wickets, which may well have earned him a start should England, as is likely, go with two spinners at Cardiff.

FIGJAM needs to sort his head out - his dismissal yesterday was dreadful. Collingwood will as usual be under pressure, particularly as a certain someone scored an absolutely sublime 159 on Tuesday. Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan did their chances no good at all - can we please now call time on Bell's England career permanently? And Morgan, well he simply isn't good enough - and that's coming from a Middx supporter, remember.

Incidentally, anyone know why Cook didn't bat yesterday - was it simply because he scored shedloads in the first innings and was "rested" for the 2nd, or is he carrying an injury? If the latter, Moore did his chances of stepping in no harm at all against the Aussies.