Ashes 2013: England stick with same squad for second Test

Alastair Cook's team hung on yesterday for a famous 14-run win in a titanic first Test at Trent Bridge, and the selectors this morning confirmed the same 13 to pick from when the second starts at HQ on Thursday.

Cook and coach Andy Flower will then have tougher decisions to make about whether to again give Steven Finn the nod as their third seamer ahead of either Tim Bresnan or Graham Onions.

Finn struggled in Nottingham, where man of the match James Anderson led the home attack brilliantly and was rewarded with 10 wickets.

Announcing today's unchanged squad, national selector Geoff Miller congratulated Cook's England on the "composure" they demonstrated to keep Australia at bay on the final day.

"It was a fantastic start to the Investec Test series, with both sides showing a huge amount of skill and determination," he said.

"I would like to congratulate England on showing a great deal of composure to win by 14 runs."

Miller is expecting more of the same from both sides in the remaining four Tests.

"I have no doubt that the rest of the series will be equally compelling," he added.

"We have selected the same squad for the Lord's Test, because this continues to provide options for Alastair Cook and Andy Flower."0

England squad (v Australia at Lord's in the second Investec Test, starting on July 18):

AN Cook (capt), JE Root, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, JM Bairstow, MJ Prior (wkt), TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson, G Onions, ST Finn.

PA

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Hallelujah! Tim Tebow NFL Pilgrimage Leads to New England

I don't want to promote myself as an all-seeing, omnipotent NFL genius or anything, but I knew this was going to happen.

Tim Tebow is too good an athlete to be completely ignored by the NFL, and so in an amazingly short period of time, Tebow has gone from an unwanted free agent, cast aside by the New York Jets, to a New England Patriot.

Granted, Tebow probably didn't have many other offers, if any. That's evident from his two-year, no guarantee contract.

But, at least we should all find out finally whether this polarizing figure can play in the NFL or not.

The good news for Tebow fans is if he makes the team, he will be in the perfect environment to work on that hitch in his throwing motion and to learn from some of the best offensive talent and brains in the league.

For his detractors, well there is no good news other than the fact they will still have Tebow to kick around at least for a time. More on that here.

- Getty Images

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Ashes 2013: England and Australia ready for opening salvoes

England's captain, Alastair Cook, warms up against Essex before the first Ashes Test with Australia at Trent Bridge. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images

Here we go then. Thankfully the time for speculation is almost gone. On Wednesday at Trent Bridge Shane Watson or Alastair Cook will take guard in sunshine, so it seems, and cricket's oldest private battle will be resumed.

It will not be that private. The press box will be packed and so, too, the stands; the TV cameras will zoom in on every combatant exposing any signs of anxiety or fear on the faces of every cricketer lucky enough to be involved. On two continents even those with a passing knowledge of cricket will want to know the score. They may not be too bothered in Mumbai or Multan but from Melton Mowbray to Melbourne they will be avidly following the progress of Root or Rogers with furrowed brows.

The first Test of an Ashes series is special. Whether the same excitement will still be there when the two captains toss up in Sydney on 3 January before the 10th consecutive Test between these two nations remains to be seen. If that is the case, we will have witnessed much staggering drama along the way.

The clinical view must be that this series cannot equal the last two in England. In 2005 we witnessed the most dramatic and the best Ashes series of all, when there was never a dull hour, let alone a dull day. The 2009 contest seldom touched those heights but the tension remained until the final day at The Oval, where Cook held the catch which ensured that the Ashes were regained.

This time England set off as favourites, a little uncomfortably as recently they have been prone to play in a constipated manner when expected to win.

Australia's journey to the opening match at Trent Bridge has been eccentric, to say the least, but England's has been as tranquil as it gets. There have been injury concerns over Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad but it now seems as if all three will be fit to play. Maybe the lure of the Ashes really can be a great healer. In considerable contrast to their opponents the make-up of the England side has caused only minimal head-scratching along with some local heartache.

It has been a tough month for Nick Compton. The Ashes is the pinnacle and he is going to miss out at the start of the series. The selectors have opted to open with Joe Root, with Jonny Bairstow batting at six. This may not be fair on Compton but fairness is not – and should not be – the first criterion for selectors. Their duty is to pick what they consider the best, not the fairest, team and essentially they have opted for Bairstow rather than Compton. As it happens, both average 31 in Test cricket.

Compton is probably better informed about the Australian bowlers than anyone else. He has faced all of them in the last week either for Somerset or, remarkably, for Worcester, a state of affairs that may have left him both mystified and miffed. One can only assume that after the second Test at Lord's we will see Compton striding out against the Australians once again – for Sussex at Hove.

The Australians will certainly target the two young Yorkshiremen, Root and Bairstow, who are the only players in the England side not to have experienced the peculiar thrill of an Ashes contest (Australia are likely to have five Ashes debutants in their team).

It will also be tough for whichever bowler England choose to omit. The choice will be between Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn. If Bairstow is the bolder choice when selecting the batsmen, Finn is probably the more aggressive selection among the bowlers. However, Bresnan may like to point out that in his last two Tests at Nottingham, in 2011 and 2012, he took 15 wickets against India and West Indies. Moreover Bresnan did score a century, which qualified as first-class – for a couple of days at least – against Essex in England's desultory warm-up match.

The make-up of the Australian side is harder to predict but the assumption is that they will stick with the bowling attack used at Taunton: James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon. This quartet is not so experienced as England's. Pattinson and Starc will bowl wayward spells but, when they click, they are dangerous.

Australia's new coach, Darren Lehmann, has been as candid as he can be about his batting line-up. He has already said that Watson and Chris Rogers will open – a month ago it might have been Ed Cowan and David Warner. My guess is that they will bat Cowan at three, Michael Clarke and Phil Hughes at four and five and that they will take a punt on Warner at six, even though his suspension meant that he has been unable to play in either of Australia's warm-up games. Whoever they select, England will have the more experienced line-up.

Even the Australians acknowledge that England are the favourites. In fact they seem happy as underdogs. Starc made a point of mentioning the 1989 series the other day as a source of encouragement for the Australians (Starc, by the way, must have been doing his homework, for want of a better phrase, because he was not born until 1990).

In 1989 Australia were also second favourites; they had lost the previous two Ashes series and the anticipation was that Allan Border's side would be swept away. That was the summer during which Graham Gooch was usually lbw to Terry Alderman and half the England side were eyeing an ill-conceived but highly lucrative rebel tour to South Africa. Australia won 4-0.

Do not expect that scoreline to be repeated this time. But nor should anyone anticipate an easy victory for England. Despite everything the Australians are looking like a team again – and it is the Ashes.

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Ashes 2013: England warned Trent Bridge is no swinger's paradise

JImmy Anderson has taken 39 Test wickets in six appearances at Trent Bridge since 2003 at an average of less than 18. Photograph: Pat Chapman/Actionplus

England have been warned that Trent Bridge is unlikely to live up to its reputation as a swinger's paradise, and therefore Jimmy Anderson's favourite Test ground, this week, especially given the glorious forecast. But Chris Read, the former Test wicketkeeper and long-serving Nottinghamshire captain, believes the unusual dryness of the ground will still suit England's ability to exploit reverse swing and spin.

Anderson has taken 39 of his 307 Test wickets in six appearances in Nottingham since 2003 at an average of less than 18, helping England to win five of those matches, including convincing victories in each of the last four.

But Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad have already passed on to Anderson that conditions at Trent Bridge this season have not been favouring the Nottinghamshire seam bowlers. The last two County Championship matches at the ground have petered out into draws with a total of 1,811 runs scored for the loss of only 31 wickets.

"All the feedback we're getting from the Notts boys is that it's not swung as much this year," Anderson said. "The pitch is very flat and very dry, so we don't really know what to expect until we get there and practise."

"I think the square has been changing for the last three or four years," said Read. "A lot of people have put it down to these new outfields – the one at Trent Bridge is fantastic in terms of absorbing the water from rain, but the theory is that it is also sucking moisture out of the square.

"I certainly think that for the majority of our games this year there has been less moisture in the ground and it's therefore been giving less assistance to all the quick bowlers.

"We did have a low-scoring game against Surrey but that was played under leaden skies with the floodlights on – and from what I've heard that's not going to be the case this week.

"I would imagine there will be some swing early on with the new ball but then the wicket will deteriorate nicely. There isn't generally a great deal of spin at Trent Bridge but there could be this time and I would imagine reverse swing, too. We've seen England exploiting that with a white ball in the Champions Trophy and I think back to the 2005 Ashes series, especially Simon Jones at Old Trafford, when it was also important.

"I don't think Jimmy and Broady and whoever else gets picked will be overly concerned because they've shown they are a fantastic outfit whatever the conditions," said Read.

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