Monty Panesar will be able to use the attention of Australian crowds to his advantage © Getty Images

Australian crowds have the reputation of being the most hostile in the cricket world. And it’s widely believed that Monty Panesar, England’s new star spinner, will be a target for their vitriol with his sometimes farcical fielding. But the impact of crowds isn’t just about whether they are with you or against you.

Monty himself suggested as much when he spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald last weekend. “In general,” he said, “I look to take energy from crowds that are passionate about cricket. When you're in front of huge crowds, it's obviously a big motivation. I hope that most people in Australian cricket support the game in the right way. No one wants to see things that aren't right in the sport. In India, the crowds were big with a lot of people very passionate about the game. I hope it will be like that.”

Monty puts his finger on the matter, with characteristic accuracy, when he talks about “taking energy”. A crowd is an energy more than anything else. Players need to be able to ride that energy. When the Ashes were held in England last year, the crowds made a lot more noise than the players were used to. Some rose to it, others wilted. But they didn’t necessarily divide along national lines. Shane Warne copped as much flak from the crowd as anyone, but thrived on it. Ian Bell copped none, and floundered.

Monty will certainly get the big crowds he is hoping for. And no doubt when he lets the ball through his legs at mid-on, they will give him a hard time. But they may well warm to him the way the English crowd has, because of his wide-eyed enthusiasm and his endearingly inept celebrations. And even if they don’t, he can already see that the thing to do is not to worry about that, but to harness their energy.

	'One of the easiest Ashes touring parties you could possibly pick' - well, hang on a minute... © Getty Images

Michael Vaughan gave a long interview the other day to the Yorkshire Post. A couple of quotes were picked up as a news story, but the piece is worth reading in full. For a start, you discover where the interview took place: “at the England captain’s luxury £1m villa on Barbados”. Possibly the most glamorous location ever for a Yorkshire cricketer to talk to the local paper.

It’s also worth having a close look at Vaughan’s line on England’s walking wounded. Have England gambled, he is asked, by selecting a number of players for the Ashes who are suffering from injuries, and also by choosing Marcus Trescothick following his personal problems? “Absolutely not,” Vaughan replies. “I spoke to the selectors quite regularly about the squad and it was one of the easiest Ashes touring parties you could possibly pick. There weren't really any tough decisions and the selectors would not have taken any risks on fitness. They must be very, very confident because they would not take risks for such a big series, and although people will always have their views as to whether certain players should be included, the squad is right in my opinion.”

Vaughan is a shrewd character and an outstanding captain, but this is bland, unconvincing, inaccurate stuff. “One of the easiest Ashes touring parties you could possibly pick”: oh, come on. The senior pro is suffering from a stress-related illness.

“There weren’t really any tough decisions.” There what? Everybody knows there was at least one, the tour captaincy, which was settled so late that the eventual choice, Andrew Flintoff, had no hand in the selection of his team. As David Graveney, the chairman of the selectors, put it at the squad announcement: “We have had to make a very tough decision in choosing between Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss for the captaincy.”

Vaughan’s line on the risks being taken is that they can’t be risks because the selectors “would not take risks for such a big series”. Well, they did last time England went to Australia: two of them – Flintoff and Darren Gough. Neither man played a Test, and the upshot was that there was a loud and lusty chorus of Never Again. This time, the selectors haven’t taken two risks: they’ve taken six. There may be good reasons for each one, but Vaughan hasn’t given any.

It’s only a quote, of course, and perhaps Vaughan is as rusty at giving interviews as he is with the bat. But he could have just fended the question off. Instead he came out with vapid assurances that insult the intelligence of his many fans.

	Keeping the faith...or has Fletcher had enough of Read already? © Getty Images

When the curtain rises again on the Ashes, there will be only a couple of characters more central than the England wicketkeeper. Yet we don’t know who it will be, and today, when they could have shed some light on this, the England hierarchy spread further doubt. They handed out annual contracts to 13 players without including either of their touring keepers. Geraint Jones has lost his contract, but Chris Read hasn’t been given one.

So when England take the field at Brisbane, one man will be getting paid less, and offered less security, than nearly all his team-mates, and it will be the man whose role is to be the hub of everything they do. You get the nasty feeling that Duncan Fletcher, a Jones fan, is having second thoughts about switching to Read, even though he has done a great job since his surprise recall seven weeks ago. Read, whose last two Test series have both ended in 3-0 victories – against West Indies in 2004, and now Pakistan – is being treated as a poor relation.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones will still be on full pay. Vaughan is an outstanding captain and Jones a matchwinning bowler, but they have now been out for nine and 12 months respectively, and here they are being signed up for another year, at somewhere between £250,000 and £400,000 each.

Loyalty is all very well but England have reached the point where loyalty meets profligacy. They are behaving as if they were a club, and there was a danger of Vaughan or Jones joining a rival team. Yet when there really was such a danger, with the excellent bowling coach Troy Cooley, England did nothing, and he left to join Australia.

The 13-strong list has a strange balance, big on batsmen (seven) and spinners (two), short on fast bowlers (four, none currently fit) as well as keepers. And, like the tour party, it is huge on injuries, with Ashley Giles included as well as Vaughan, Simon Jones, Flintoff and Trescothick. You can see why the selectors didn’t have enough confidence in Saj Mahmood or Liam Plunkett to give them a contract. What is harder to fathom is how they did have enough confidence in some of the others.

When Andrew Flintoff was appointed England captain again last week, it was largely on the strength of the win he led them to at Mumbai in March. Flintoff did it with charisma, inspiration – and music. At lunchtime on the last day, the England dressing-room reverberated to a raucous singalong of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. More than just a rousing tune, it was also a sly reference to the tummy trouble that many of the players had suffered at one time or another.

In Australia, they will need a different theme tune. But what should it be? Judging by the selection – sticking with the devils they know, picking all available Ashes winners, plus everyone who played in the Tests against Pakistan – the song should be Steady As She Goes by the Raconteurs. It’s stirring, it’s from this year, and it’s the kind of sentiment you can only sing when you’re winning. On second thoughts, perhaps that’s a bit risky.

Another contender, for a side carrying so many injuries, would be another Johnny Cash song: Hurt. Great song, apt lyrics, well quite apt – the references to drugs might be a bit tricky. Similar objections apply to David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes, the greatest song ever written about space travel, narcotics and the 18-to-30-month gap between England-Australia Test series.

Maybe we’re looking for something more cheerful. Flintoff, who once worked on the record counter at Woolworths in Preston, has a weakness for Elton John, so I’m Still Standing fits the bill. “And did you think this fool could never win / Well look at me, I’m a-coming back again.” It could almost have been written for Ashley Giles.

But these thoughts are just to get the ball rolling. Over to you.

	© Getty Images

There are no new boys
Normally England take an apprentice to Australia – Bob Willis in 1970-71, Phil DeFreitas in 1986-87. But they have had so many injuries this year that boys who might have been new have already got through their first couple of terms. Alastair Cook, Liam Plunkett and Saj Mahmood were all left out of the original Test squad for Pakistan a year ago, and they now have 20 caps between them. It’s still an inexperienced squad, but at least every member knows how it feels to have Test cricket running through his veins.

England have improved since the Ashes…
… in three areas, at least: middle-order batting (nobody is as green now as Ian Bell was then), wicketkeeping (Read is an artist, Jones a journeyman) and slow bowling (same with Panesar and Giles). On the other hand, they have gone backwards in four areas: captaincy (no Vaughan), fast bowling (no Simon Jones), tail-end batting (no journeymen), and fitness (six crocks, rising to seven today if Hoggard’s MRI scan goes badly). Time will tell whether the three areas are more significant than the four, or whether they can turn a couple of them round; their record on that is pretty good.

The Aussies are swaggering again
They are hot favourites at all the bookies. Glenn McGrath is making extravagant claims, saying he is bowling faster than ever at the age of 36. And all over Australia, cricket lovers are firing off wildly bullish emails to unsuspecting bloggers. The talk is of 4-1, as if it was still 2002. The Aussies could go into this Ashes series with just the same blithe over-confidence as the last one.

	Of the eight bowlers selected, only Sajid Mahmood played in the one-dayers against Pakistan © Getty Images

It’s clear what the first team is
Of the 16 names, four look very much like reserves – Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Liam Plunkett and, since England seem to be going back to five bowlers, the unfortunate Paul Collingwood. This leaves only one real decision, for the first Test at least: which Lancashire swing bowler to have as fourth seamer – James Anderson or Saj Mahmood. There should be plenty of chunter on the medical front in the early weeks of the tour, but hardly any on selection issues.

Several players are fresh
This is the upside of all the injuries. Of the eight bowlers, two have had the past few weeks off, and three have had months off. Only one, Saj Mahmood, played in the one-day series against Pakistan. Only two others, Matthew Hoggard and Monty Panesar, played in the Tests. Of course, being fresh isn’t much use if you’re not fit…

	Andrew Flintoff: He's up for it © Getty Images

Fred’s up for it
Not content with being a top bowler, fine batsman, ace fielder and decent captain, Andrew Flintoff is also rather good at public relations. He gave great press conference yesterday, exuding bonhomie without veering off into bluster. He looked relaxed, eager, and raring to go. Dammit, he even looked fit.

There’s a proper vice-captain
For some reason, England don’t like naming a vice-captain, but we all know who it is this time: Andrew Strauss. Duncan Fletcher’s captains have a habit of getting injured and England have often got their boxers in a twist deciding who takes over. In 2001, Mike Atherton even returned for two Tests in place of Nasser Hussain, losing them both. Last winter Marcus Trescothick first inherited the captaincy, then abandoned it. For the first time since Nasser was vice-captain to Alec Stewart, eight years ago, England are going on tour with a ready-made deputy for the captain. Strauss has won a Test series as captain himself (unlike Flintoff), and if he is not too sore, he has all the attributes of an excellent no.2 – a cool head, a sharp mind, and a modest ego.

The Ashes squad is out now and my gut reaction is: they've played safe on everything – except fitness. The selectors are gambling on the health of Marcus Trescothick, Ashley Giles and James Anderson. They have picked a captain who isn't fit yet in Andrew Flintoff. My feeling is that they're right about Flintoff, narrowly, as I said here earlier. But overall, they have risked a whole bunch of half-fit players – just as they did for the last Ashes trip, in 2002, And what did everybody say then? Never again.

After this post went up, the nice people at Cricinfo asked me to expand it into a comment piece on the squad, so I did. It's here

BBC television has just announced that it will be showing highlights of the Ashes. It’s great news which partly makes up for the fact that all live action, both Test and one-day, is on Sky, thus bypassing more than half the households in Britain. But there’s a crunch question the Beeb haven’t answered yet. When will the highlights go out?

A day’s Test cricket in Australia ends at breakfast time in Britain, which ought to leave plenty of scope for the schedulers. But it’s reported that Sky, who sold the rights on to the BBC, want to keep the highlights to themselves for most of the day.

This summer, the highlights actually got better: Channel Five showed highlights at 7.15-8pm every day of the seven Tests, sometimes even starting when play was still going on. And they did them well, with Mark Nicholas, Simon Hughes, Geoff Boycott, plenty of action and no gimmicks. Boycott, especially, lends himself to highlights, being incisive but repetitive (“my mother could do better than that”).

The BBC need to put their scheduling where their money is. They must give the highlights a fixed slot, at least 40 minutes long, when the kids are still awake. And they must have commentators who can hit the right note for the fringe viewers that only the Ashes can reach.

	Mark Ramprakash: One final chance? © Getty Images

In today’s Guardian, Mike Selvey says that if there are “any qualms” about including Marcus Trescothick, and the selectors want a player of similar experience, “then Mark Ramprakash, the best technician of his generation with a good record in trying circumstances in Australia, should be included”. And Frank Keating, in his magnificently adjectival back-page column, points out that “stalwart ancients” like Graham Gooch and Geoff Boycott made stacks of Test runs in their late thirties.

Christopher Martin-Jenkins of The Times said on Monday that “one could make a good case” for Ramps. And in the new edition of The Wisden Cricketer, out later this week, David Fulton, the former Kent captain, joins the campaign. Asked if Ramps would be more philosophical and less intense now, Fulton says: “I think so, and I think he’d have a fabulous Ashes tour.” As one of the comments here says, it ain’t gonna happen. But it should.

	Jon Lewis: accurate and nagging, but is he too slow? © Getty Images

In 2005 England’s third and fourth seamers did more than anyone else, except perhaps Michael Vaughan, to win the Ashes. In the three key Tests, at Edgbaston, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones took 30 wickets between them, while Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, armed with the new ball, took 17. They never allowed the Aussies off the hook. Now, Jones is a non-starter and Flintoff is not yet back from injury. And this is one area where England’s replacements have struggled.

The reserve fourth seamers, Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood, can be a little flaky. Mahmood has pace and bounce and sometimes swing, but little accuracy. Plunkett has more control but less of the pace, bounce and swing, and his action gets the ex-players tut-tutting. As an international bowler, neither is quite there.

In the one-day series against Pakistan, England had to field a complete second-choice attack – Broad, Lewis, Mahmood, Dalrymple and Yardy rather than Anderson, S Jones, Harmison, Flintoff, and Giles. And they did quite well. Jon Lewis and Stuart Broad, especially, worked as a pairing – one classically English, with his nippy awayswing, the other shaping as a mini-McGrath, with bounce and seam movement. Actually not that mini: at 6 ft 6, he’s still growing. And he is already hard to get away.

Duncan Fletcher doubts whether Lewis is fast enough for Test cricket outisde England, which makes you wonder if he ever saw Terry Alderman or Damien Fleming in action. Lewis is in just that mould – nagging, swinging, testing, non-military medium, capable of outwitting the best players. If Jimmy Anderson is fit, I’d pick him and Lewis. If not, take Broad. But don’t be surprised if the selectors stick with Mahmood and Plunkett, the devils they know.

	'The selectors will be dead tempted to go for Giles, and with good reason, because it isn’t a big risk' © AFP

Ashley Giles’ long-running groin injury turned into a blessing in disguise for England, enabling them to unearth Monty Panesar, who is already a better bowler, even though he is ten years younger. Monty played as the sole spinner all summer, but a second one is needed for Australia, to play one, two, or, at a pinch, three Tests.

Shane Warne has said that he would pick both Giles and Panesar. It’s an appealing prospect: one can bat a bit, field well and bore the odd batsman out from over the wicket, and the other can take out top players with his orthodox ripper. They are both slow left-armers, but there the resemblance ends; as when Langer and Hayden open the batting together, what looks like a duplication would actually be a study in contrasts. But Giles has been out all year, and punts are already being taken on Flintoff and possibly Trescothick: can England afford another? Wouldn’t they be better off with Jamie Dalrymple, who has shown plenty of Giles-like grit in his first two one-day series?

The selectors will be dead tempted to go for Giles, and with good reason, because it isn’t a big risk. The only Test where the second spinner will definitely be needed, Sydney, is the final one. (Even there, England played only one slow bowler last time, and won. Pub-quiz veterans will know that it was Richard Dawson.) Giles, with his street wisdom and stoical demeanour, will bring plenty to what Duncan Fletcher slyly calls the party.

	Geraint Jones: a favourite of Duncan Fletcher's © Getty Images

Test players who are dropped, as Geraint Jones finally was in August, are traditionally told to go away and get some runs in domestic cricket. Jones hasn’t. He is still painfully out of form with the bat, and his batting is what he was picked for – Chris Read, despite a tendency to leave too much to first slip, is a far more natural keeper, and his ability to standard up to medium pace could make Jon lewis and even Matthew Hoggard more potent.

If Jones is named in the squad this afternoon, it will be because he is a Fletcher favourite, althugh also, to be fair, because he made a vital 80 in England’s last victory over Australia. James Foster of Essex, a spirited cricketer who has already been on an Ashes tour and played a Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, has stronger credentials.

A word about Jones's namesake, Simon. A few people who have posted comments here seem to expect him to play in the Ashes. As far as we know, he is out of the whole series. More on the bowlers in a minute.

	Mark Butcher would still be able to fit in with the current England side © Getty Images

England are in danger of gambling on Trescothick’s health because they are desperate to have his experience. They would do better to take a senior player as the spare batsman: either Mark Butcher or Mark Ramprakash. Butcher will fit in easily, as a member of the successful team of 2004, and can be the third opener that every squad needs. Ramprakash, always effective against Australia and now in the form of his life, may bring more runs.

	Trescothick has opted out of the Champions Trophy. Can the selectors then risk him for the Ashes? © Getty Images

Marcus Trescothick is suffering from what the England hierarchy call “a stress-related illness”. He has only recently come to terms with his diagnosis and is still in mid-treatment. Can the selectors risk him? They have accepted that they can’t for the Champions Trophy in October, and I don’t see how they can for the Ashes in November. If Trescothick was in top form, it might be worth the risk, but he isn’t, and wasn’t last time round in Australia (average 26, top score 72). The management just can’t be confident that he will be up to it.

England will miss his genial solidity, his big hands at first slip and his ball-polishing skills more than his batting in its current distracted state. The one-day team perked up immediately when he stepped down, and there are ready-made replacements for him in Tests – Alastair Cook can open, Flintoff should be back at slip. Trescothick needs a break. Give the poor man the rest of the year off and tell him to come back refreshed for the one-day marathon that runs from January to April.

	'Andrew Flintoff has captained in India, the only place close to being as tough as Australia' © Getty Images

Tomorrow the England selectors sit down, for the first time in 20 years, to pick a tour party to retain the Ashes. Even with all the injuries, most of the 16 pick themselves – Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Flintoff, Read, Hoggard, Harmison and Panesar are certainties. The other six places are the ones that will dominate the conversation. Here are the dilemmas David Graveney, Geoff Miller and Duncan Fletcher must resolve, starting with the captaincy.

This is as close as captaincy ever gets to a 50-50 decision. Andrew Strauss has won a series, has captained a county, is usually fit, doesn’t bowl, and is a Fletcher man. He is calm, thoughtful, educated and has made the most of limited talent. But he hasn’t captained England on tour or played a Test in Australia.

Andrew Flintoff has captained in India, the only place close to being as tough as Australia. He has charisma and almost unlimited talent, he scares the Aussies and inspires team-mates, especially the opening bowlers, Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard. But he can be tactically naïve, is apt to overbowl himself and keeps more of a distance from Fletcher.

The clinching question is: what feels more natural, Flintoff as captain with Strauss as his lieutenant, or the other way round? Answer: Flintoff, just.

September 6

	'Trescothick's absence won't do England much harm.And his decision lets the selectors off a hook' © Getty Images

Marcus Trescothick has the distinction, possibly unique in a major England career, of never once being dropped. So occasionally it falls to him to drop himself. The selectors, apparently, were planning to include him in the squad for the Champions Trophy in India, even though he has been batting like a lost soul. Not since Graham Thorpe was going through a bitter custody battle in 2002 has an England player been so visibly adrift. He is surely right to take a break and put his health first.

Trescothick's absence won't do England much harm. Like Graham Gooch in the mid-Eighties, he has gone from a pillar of the team to something more ambivalent; England need to see how they can do without him, as they did without Gooch, very nicely, in 1986-87. And his decision lets the selectors off a hook. England may be rubbish at one-day cricket at the moment, but it is strangely hard to break into their top five. Alastair Cook, who had a promising first couple of games in June, hasn't been able to force his way in since. Andrew Strauss let slip the other day, when he himself returned to the top of the order, that the plan was to give Ian Bell a run in the side at No 3, which meant that if Andrew Flintoff was to return as a specialist batsman, England would have had to leave out Paul Collingwood, who is part of the backbone of the team. Now, Flintoff can come in as a straight replacement for Trescothick.

He should even open the batting. He won't be knackered from bowling, the ball won't be seaming around, he will have the chance to play long innings, and this is the time to find out whether he can be something England have never had – a destructive, intimidating opener in the Gilchrist mould. The more sedate types who are really better suited to Test cricket (Strauss and Bell) will be free to play second fiddle, and the only other dasher, Kevin Pietersen, will have to start making big one-day runs again if he is to get the limelight he loves. Then all England will have to sort out is who the hell is going to bowl.

© Tim de Lisle 2006

England’s home season is over. The Aussies have emerged from their boot camp. England’s squad is being finalised. They may even have decided who their captain is to be. It’s Ashes time again.

There are not many five-Test series left in cricket, and this is the oldest and biggest of them. Last time round, in the pulsating English summer of 2005, it was also the best. After 15 years of anticlimax, it was once again a contest between the world’s top two teams – and after an amazing sequence of cliffhangers, the second-best proved a touch too good for the best. It was David v Goliath with a lot more suspense.

So now the expectations are even higher. Every ticket is sold, even for the great modern coliseum at Melbourne. As the hype threatens to boil over, Ashes Buzz will keep a cool eye on what’s happening, covering everything from Flintoff’s fitness to McGrath’s predictions, from England's balance to Australia's ageing. Got the fever? Here’s the medicine. Take two or three paragraphs, several times a week.