THE First Test of next winter’s Ashes series are a year away.
The date is November 23, 2017 and the venue is the famous Gabba ground in Brisbane.
But which players will take the field for England?
The likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes are certainties but there will be plenty of new and familiar names pushing for selection.
A glance at England’s team from their last visit to the Gabba in November 2013 shows how quickly faces change.
The likes of Michael Carberry, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann and Chris Tremlett have long-since finished their England careers while Ian Bell’s dreams of a comeback have virtually disappeared.
So here goes…
Alastair Cook
Cook and his boss Andrew Strauss have dismissed the notion that he might quit as skipper after the current series against India.
He wants one more crack at the Aussies – and why not after the 2013-14 whitewash featuring Mitchell Johnson’s thunderbolts and toxic dressing-room in-fighting?
Cook has played 135 Tests on the trot and his skill, hunger and fitness are scarcely diminished.
Haseeb Hameed
The rotating door policy at the top of England’s order has finally discovered 19-year-old Hameed.
Cook has had 11 different partners since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012 and the young Lancastrian seems to be the answer.
Although he has made just one half-century in four innings, Hameed has displayed enough talent and calmness to convince even the most sceptic pundit that he has a big future.
Joe Root
Root’s elevation to No.3 has left a massive hole at No.4. But England are likely to stick with the plan of allowing their best batsman the maximum opportunity to shape each innings.
Root was dropped during the last Ashes tour and will be hugely motivated to prove his standing as one of the game’s greats. Root will be ready to take over as captain when Cook stands down, as seems likely, in 2018.
Ben Duckett
The chunky Northants’ batsman’s technical frailties against spin have been brutally unpicked in recent weeks. But the lad has talent and will surely improve his play against the turning ball.
Anyway, the Gabba, venue for the First Test next winter, is all about pace and Duckett’s aggressive style could flourish on the quicker, bouncier pitches Down Under.
We haven’t seen the last of Baby Ben.
Joe Clarke
The 20-year-old Worcester batsman – he can also keep wicket – is a young player with bags of confidence.
Some might even call it a strutting swagger, which is not a bad quality when facing the Aussies in Australia.
He was chosen for England Lions as a teenager and continued his advance last summer.
Clarke has plenty of shots and is not afraid to use them.
A county team-mate of Moeen Ali, they might be sharing the England dressing-room a year from now.
Ben Stokes
The buccaneering all-rounder first made his mark on the world stage four years with a dazzling century in England’s defeat in Perth.
His all-round talents allow England to play five bowlers – and they are fielding six in India. Stokes is the heartbeat of the team, the charismatic talisman with whom players want to go into battle on the field and socialise off the field.
Hits big, bowls quick and catches flies.
Jonny Bairstow
Bairstow has been England’s big find of the last 12 months and is the leading run-scorer in world Test cricket in 2016.
Okay, England have played most Tests but he has become a serious global performer. He hardly ever seems to fail.
Bairstow is unrecognisable from the tentative guy who played one Test in 2013-14. His wicketkeeping is perfectly decent and he would get into England’s side as a specialist batsman.
Moeen Ali
Moeen is enjoying his current position at No.5 in India but he will have to drop back down to No.8 in Australia.
He is promoted up the order when England need to choose two or three spinners but Moeen will be the sole twirly man at the Gabba.
He was superb against the Aussies in 2015 and his aggressive, languid batting can change a game in a session.
No better England off-spinners have emerged in the last three years.
Stuart Broad
On the last tour, Broad was abused and insulted like few players in Ashes history.
The local paper in Brisbane refused to use his name while T-shirts proclaiming ‘Stuart Broad is a s*** bloke’ were made.
All because he didn’t walk when he edged a catch at Trent Bridge in 2013.
By the end, however, even the Aussies had a grudging admiration for Broad, who took it in good heart and was England’s best bowler. He loves the fight.
Mark Wood
The Durham speedster and reverse swing expert has been injury-prone but, when he is fit and firing, there are few more dangerous bowlers.
He is also one of the game’s great characters, as he jumps around the field and neighs while performing his imaginary horse.
Chris Woakes has been superb in 2016 but, come next winter, England might opt for the skiddy, speedy Wood. It will be a close call.
James Anderson
Anderson will be 35 next November but he believes he has one Ashes tour left in him.
He is lean and fit and his action takes less out of him than most fast bowlers.
The King of Swing showed his determination to extend his Test career when he defied medics and arrived on the current India tour in time to play the Second Test.
He is a magician with the ball, an exponent of swing, seam, cut, sledging and still a decent turn of pace.
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