Warne questions why Siddle was picked

Test legend Shane Warne has called on Bupa Support Team Head Coach Darren Lehmann to relinquish his role as selector and hand it to new captain Steve Smith, and also criticised the inclusion of Peter Siddle in Australia's fifth Test XI.

In two lengthy declamations during Wide World of Sports' coverage of the fifth Ashes Test, Warne criticised Lehmann and head selector Rod Marsh after Australia made two changes at The Oval.

The tourists, who were sent in to bat on the first morning, brought in Siddle for Josh Hazlewood and allrounder Mitchell Marsh in place of his older brother Shaun.

Australia lost the toss on Thursday are on top of England in the match, the visitors 3-287 at stumps after the first day.

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Warne heavily criticised the decision to pick Siddle instead of 22-year-old paceman Pat Cummins, adding Australia's XI for this match should have been the side they opted for when the Ashes was on the line in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge.

With the series now lost, Warne said Cummins should have been given an opportunity to prove himself, adding the depth of Australia's fast-bowling stocks meant 56-Test veteran Siddle will never play again after this series.

And he said Lehmann should give up his selection duties and hand the responsibility to Smith, who will take over as captain when Michael Clarke - Warne's great friend - retires after this match.

READ: Lehmann apologises for Ashes loss

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Lehmann watches on at Trent Bridge // Getty Images

"I think the captain should be a selector and not the coach," Warne said.

"I believe the coach should be there for the players so they can go to him and talk to him. That's what the coach is there for.

"He's not there to coach technique and things; he's got to make sure they're prepared to play. He makes sure that the guys there have got the right frame of mind to play.

"And I don't believe the coach should be a selector. I think he's a guy the selectors bounce off and say 'what do you think of this player?' and he has input.

"The captain should be a selector because … he can go to the selectors’ meeting and say 'this is the side I want'.

"Because you want to walk out with a team that you think will win the Test match. Occasionally you get it wrong and that's what selectors are for. You want them to back the captain.

"The captain in this case is Michael Clarke, he's not a selector. He gives input and he doesn't get the side he wants and he walks out with players he might not want in side.

"(Smith) has got the opportunity to set the platform with how he wants it to work under his captaincy.

"It's a perfect opportunity, it's a changing of the guard."

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Siddle and Clarke at training this week // Getty Images

Clarke said at the toss that the control offered by Siddle was behind the decision to opt for the Victorian ahead of Cummins, whose long wait between his first and second Tests will continue past the current tally of 1368 days.

Australia's selectors had given no indication to their thinking after Hazlewood was officially ruled out on Wednesday, but the groin soreness suffered by Siddle following last week's match in Northampton led to media speculation that Cummins would be brought into the side.

Siddle, 30, had been overlooked for Australia's previous nine Test matches while Cummins has only just returned to the first-class arena after suffering several serious injuries since his man-of-the-match performance on debut against South Africa in 2011.

With the Ashes already relinquished and Australia due to play 10 Tests between October and February, it had been mooted by some pundits that Cummins would be given an opportunity with a view to the future.

Smith speaks to the media after being named captain and at the 4:15 mark of the video he discusses what his role will be in team selection

For his part, Cummins was realistic about his own chances when he spoke after a solid performance in the tour match against Northamptonshire.

"I haven't heard anything (about possible selection for the fifth Test) but from the last couple of weeks I've seen Peter Siddle bowl in the nets and he's bowled beautifully," Cummins said.

"So if they do go for a change I guess we're both ready.

"If a game comes along it will be a bonus and I'll be ready to go, but I didn't have any big expectations when I came over."

While there has been no official word from selectors Marsh or Lehmann on their thinking behind opting for Siddle, Clarke said he was brought in to provide a steady option alongside strike bowlers Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson.

"I guess this wicket has got a fair bit of grass on it, Sidds gives us that control (and) seam movement as well," Clarke said at the toss.

"Sidds was selected on the tour before Pat Cummins as well so I think that's the main reason for going with that."

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Clarke walks after after being dismissed today // Getty Images

While this match is effectively a dead rubber, there is still plenty to play for in south London this week.

Victory for England would see them move ahead of Australia to No.2 on the ICC Test rankings and it would also mean they become the first English side to win four Tests in a home Ashes series.

The Test will also be the last for Clarke and opener Chris Rogers, who have both announced their retirement.

But Warne feels Australia have missed an opportunity to give Cummins a chance, and said that - in his mind - Siddle's Test career would be over after this series.

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Siddle has yet to bowl in the fifth Test // Getty Images

He said selectors had made a mistake by not picking Siddle in the crucial Test at Trent Bridge, and then erred again by selecting him at The Oval.

"This was the team that should have played the last Test," he said.

"And I reckon because they made a mistake in the last Test match - they've made plenty of mistakes this tour - they've said 'you two play this Test match'. Which is still another mistake because Pat Cummins should have played this Test match looking towards the future, not Peter Siddle.

"Peter Siddle won't come in to calculations outside of this Test match. He won't come in to any calculations for any Test match after this. There's too many other players.

"And that's nothing against Peter Siddle; he should have played the last Test match at Trent Bridge when the Ashes were up for grabs on a green seamer.

"They should have dropped Hazlewood and played Peter Siddle last Test match, and Mitch Marsh should have played.

"It's alright to want control with Peter Siddle and stuff like that, but it's too late for that now. That should have happened last Test.

"I just could not believe it when the team was announced today. I thought 'oh no, they've got it wrong again'.

"And I'm not by myself on this either. I reckon they've got so many things wrong in this series. They've panicked with their selections, they haven't summed up the conditions well enough and someone has to be accountable for it.

"(They) can't just say 'we got it wrong'. Someone has to be accountable and that's the chairman of selectors Rod Marsh. He has to be accountable for it.

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Warne and Clarke have always been close // Getty Images

"Because when something happens they go 'let's have a debrief, let's have a new report about something' and you come up with all the things you already knew. So it's about those people in those positions being accountable for their actions.

"Coaches, captains, chairman of selectors and then something has to happen. You can't just let it keep happening. And Australia in this series have got it all wrong."

Marsh said last week that he had to be held accountable for Australia's Ashes defeat, while Lehmann - who constantly reiterates selectors should pick the best XI to win in the conditions - conceded that selectors had erred in selecting Shaun Marsh over his brother at Trent Bridge.

READ: Lehmann discusses the Marsh swap

TFormer Test wicketkeeper Marsh also labelled the decision to pick the elder Marsh brother in Nottingham "probably the hardest selection I've been involved in".

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The Marsh brothers, who are not related to Rod Marsh, have been replaced by each other the past two Tests // Getty Images

But he stood by the make-up of the 17-man squad that has performed well below expectations in this series.

"You’ve got to be held accountable – fine, I agree with that,” Marsh said in Northampton last week, after the series loss was completed at Trent Bridge.

"But I’m just racking my brain to try and think of who else we could have picked.

"If I had my time again, to sit down and choose the batsmen to come to England it would have been exactly the same.

"I just couldn’t think of anyone else who could have done the job.

"We picked blokes with experience in these conditions, we picked blokes that we thought would get runs.

"Our blokes scored more runs than their (England’s) top-order, but our middle-order scored no runs and that was the big differential – we just didn’t score any runs in the middle.

"If you have a look at our first innings batting it’s been deplorable, it’s all you can say.

"How the hell do you (foresee) that, how do you see some of the best batsmen in the world make no runs in the first innings of four Test matches basically.

"It just staggered me."

National selector Rod Marsh addresses the media about Australia's ODI squad annoucnement, and discusses the Test team's struggles with the bat