Squad goals met, focus shifts to XI for Ashes opener

Now that the months-long speculation surrounding the make-up of Australia's Ashes squad is settled, the equally-vexed question of the starting XI for next week's opening Test follows immediately in its wake.

No sooner had selection chair Trevor Hohns named the 17 comprising the men's team touring party for the Qantas Ashes Tour than he was being quizzed about the make-up of the outfit that will take the field at Edgbaston from Thursday.

The inclusion of recalled opener Cameron Bancroft became the first item for discussion, and not solely in search of the rationale for naming him ahead of Joe Burns who scored a century in Australia's most recent Test – against Sri Lanka last February.

There also came speculation as to whether Bancroft and David Warner might be reunited at the top of the order for the first time since Cape Town last year, and whether all three specialist openers – including the other incumbent, Marcus Harris – might all feasibly fit in the same team.

It's a scenario that Hohns acknowledges has been discussed among the selection panel, in light of the hamstring injury suffered by current Test number three, Usman Khawaja.

And when pressed on whether there was a clear picture of the top six Australia will take into next week's first Test in Birmingham – where they've not won an Ashes clash since 2001 when they last secured the urn in Britain - Hohns' assessment was blunt.

"It has been (unsettled) for some time, there's no doubt about that," Hohns said of the top-order that has undergone many iterations since the suspensions handed down after Cape Town.

"I can't sit here and tell you exactly what it will be, because we haven't discussed it.

"We'll contend with that when we get to Birmingham.

"The area of interest up the top (is) the conjecture about who David Warner's opening partner will be and then the middle-order, but we'll make a judgement call on that when we get to Birmingham."

That Bancroft not only overtook Burns in the quest for an Ashes berth but might even open alongside Warner in the series starter is due to his impressive recent county cricket form, and his stand-out innings of 93 not out in the bowler dominated warm-up game at Southampton this week.

Hohns conceded that the bout of post-viral fatigue that saw Burns cut short his initial county stint with Lancashire earlier this year was a factor in weighing up the pair's respective merits, but in the end Bancroft's case was simply compelling.

"(We were) always thinking about him (Bancroft), but we needed to get our eyes on him because it's fair to say no one had seen much of him since his return (from suspension)," Hohns said today.

"He played some (Sheffield) Shield cricket towards the end of last season back home, but more importantly we wanted to see how he was going over here.

"He's the type of player we think we need in our Australian side.

"He's tough, he's enthusiastic, his work ethic is fantastic, and he's infectious.

"We need people like that, people who want to continue to improve their game, and who are hard-nosed and tough.

"He fits the bill."

Hohns confirmed that another topic for discussion had been the predominance of left-handers in the Test team, with southpaws feasibly accounting for seven of the top nine batting berths if previous-Test century-maker Kurtis Patterson had been retained along with the inclusions of Warner and James Pattinson.

It is understood that one of Australia's batting strategies will be to target England off-spinner Moeen Ali in the hope of forcing veteran pace pair James Anderson and Stuart Broad to return and bowl multiple spells.

Consequently, that ploy might prove tougher to enact with a surplus of left-handers required to hit against the direction of Moeen's spin.

Hohns noted that while the best batters would be selected regardless of which way they faced at the crease, the capacity of a mix of left and right-handers to break-up rival teams' bowling patterns was a consideration in the squad's overall flexibility.

"It certainly does (come up in discussions) and it's nice to have a sprinkling of right-handers there," Hohns said.

"Of course, with the inclusion of (Marnus) Labuschagne, we've got (Steve) Smith, we've got Bancroft, so I think we've got a fair mix there now."

Where the 17-man squad doesn't feature that depth is in specialist spin bowlers, with part-time leg spinner Labuschagne preferred to left-arm orthodox tweaker Jon Holland.

Even allowing for the burst of hot weather England has recently experienced – temperatures above 100 Fahrenheit were recorded yesterday for only the second time in British history – it's expected that only Old Trafford (fourth Test) and The Oval (fifth) might be considered conducive to playing two spinners.

Hohns claimed that if injury or other ill fortune was to strike the sole specialist spinner Nathan Lyon, then Labuschagne could fill the breach as a stop-gap while an addition to the squad would be considered if the issue meant a longer absence.

"We kept asking ourselves 'are we really going to play two spinners over here in England?' and we came up with the answer, 'probably no'," Hohns said.

"We thought it would be handy having a batting-spinning all-rounder in the squad to complement Nathan if we wanted to go down that path.

"If anything was going to happen to Nathan in the short-term we could contend with that but if there's anything to happen to him long-term of course we have the option of bringing someone else in."

That also applies to the wicketkeeping role, with former Test gloveman Matthew Wade able to replace skipper Tim Paine as an emergency measure despite Wade filling the role of specialist batter in the touring party.

Should Paine be sidelined for any length of time, then ODI vice-captain Alex Carey – who Hohns conceded was desperately unlucky to miss selection – will be playing for county outfit Sussex in coming weeks and could be seamlessly added if required.

The questions as to which of the front-line fast bowlers should be included in the starting XI for the opening Test is open to similar conjecture as is the top-order batting, such is the wealth of talent available.

But Hohns effectively ruled out the notion of playing all four big-name quicks – Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Pattinson – as well as Lyon, and thereby entering a Test with only five specialist batters.

"At the moment that hasn't entered our mind," Hohns said.

However, the form that Pattinson showed in this week's warm-up game (where he finished with 4-35 from 23 overs) coupled with the knee soreness felt by Starc during the second day in Southampton could have a bearing on the first Test team make-up.

The roster of fast bowlers, which also includes seamers Peter Siddle and Michael Neser as well as allrounder Mitchell Marsh, means selectors might even consider unleashing those options considered best suited to individual venues in order to further maximise their impact.

At the start of the series, that plan seems unlikely to include Neser – the only uncapped member of the Test squad – but Hohns indicated the South Africa-born swing bowler offers a point of difference that could prove vital as the seven-week tour unfolds.

"Michael gives us a little bit of variety in that bowling attack," Hohns said.

"He's not a tall fast bowler like the majority of them, he swings the ball, he uses the Dukes ball in particular very well as you would see from his record back home over the last two seasons.

"When we've used the Dukes ball in the second half of the (Sheffield Shield) season his performances have been outstanding.

"Add that to the package that he offers with his batting - he has a very good average for Queensland batting at seven - plus he's a very good fielder.

"The idea of six fast bowlers is to enable us to manage our fast bowlers as best we can, given the workload of these five Tests, and even the county games in between come that hot on the heels of the final day of each Test match.

"We thought we needed the extra fast bowler there, and Michael fitted the bill nicely for that.

"Whether he takes part in the Test match series is in the lap of the gods at the moment."

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

First Test: August 1-5,Edgbaston

Tour match: Australians v Worcestershire, August 7-9

Second Test: August 14-18,Lord's

Third Test: August 22-26, Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval