It will also allow him to pay more attention to things such as the IPL, and gain all the riches that come with that. It makes sense, although it is disappointing from England’s point of view. He adds such a lot as a player that we used to not be able to cope without him, but the truth is we’ve played more and more without him recently that it isn’t such a shock or problem that it used to be. He stopped scoring consistent, big innings quite a while ago and although his bowling and desire is missed, we can move on in the knowledge that he isn’t around and look to the future.

Freddie will be remembered for some great Test Match memories – Pretty much everything from the 05 Ashes, and a personal favourite of mine a few years back when he told Tino Best to “mind them windows Tino…” Youtube link here. We’ll still have him around for ODI’s and thats better than not having him at all.

The batting was a real worry, as Ponting said, there was nothing in the pitch as they showed by scoring 670 before declaring. Maybe it’s the tenseness of a the first Ashes test, maybe the England guys believed some of the hype that the Aussie bowling attack was weak but it just looked like the Australians wanted it more. Bowling wise Broad and Swann didn’t have good games but they cannot be dropped despite one newspaper hack calling for Broad to be dropped. They just need to go with clear heads into the next test, maybe with better plans for each of the Australian batsmen and an additional seamer in for Panesar (we don’t need two spinners at Lord’s) and we can bounce back from this.

Vaughan hasn’t played for England since he relinquished the captaincy last year, and it wasn’t looking too likely that he would be getting back into the team. Maybe this meant he has lost his drive as I can imagine being a competitive professional you need to know you are doing something for a reason, and maybe Vaughan lost his reason.

He was the most successful captain England have had in terms of test wins, and I look forward to reading some knowledgeable pieces about him in the papers over the next few days from those that knew him well. Enjoy your retirement!

49 or so days until the first Ashes test which will be the real test of the summer, and hopefully we’ll have some good weather and media buzz around it. We still have an ODI series and Twenty20 World Cup before then, which will give players like Bopara the opportunity to continue his good form, but aside from Flintoff’s recovery I reckon our test match side is probably sorted for the first test at the Swalec Stadium on July 8th (hopefullly Prior’s fingers will be ok after Collingwood had to take the gloves in the last test!)

The Aussie squad has been announced to some discontent down under – I’ll reflect on that in another post in the next week or so!

The squad and team selection will be interesting – with the warm up to the Ashes now well and truly on, who do the selectors fancy as those who should be facing Australia, as they will be looking to firm up the selection in this series against Chris Gayle and co. There are some certainties for the team in Strauss, Cook, KP, Collingwood, Freddie, Prior, Broad and Anderson. Swann has shown more than enough for me to stay in the squad as the only spinner, which leaves question marks on the number 3 and another seamer.

Ian Bell has started the county season well which is all very nice for him, but is he really any different to the player that was dropped for consistent failure in the test side? Give him more time in county cricket for me, if his scores are too good in a months time then look at it again, but he has to prove somehow that he deserves another shot at it. Shah was the man in possesion in the West Indies, but he didn’t exactly set the world alight. I rate him as a batsman, but I’m not sure this is the summer for him to cement his position in that spot. Vaughan hasn’t played international cricket since he resigned the captaincy last summer, but I can’t help but think he could be the man for the Ashes. He is a class batsman whichever way you look at it, he knows how to beat the Aussies and could score a hatful of runs. And for those reason, I’m putting my name on Vaughan for the number 3 spot in the team. Get him in for the early test matches to get him back used to international cricket before the main part of the summer, despite how many (or few) runs he scores in county cricket.

The bowling spot is a tricky one without a stand out candidate to my mind. Harmison was so hot and cold over the winter, and is not on the top of his game which is where you need to be against the Aussies. Sidebottom was woefully down on pace as well and seemed to have lost everything that made him a success on his return back into the test side a couple of years ago. The only other bowlers in the ECB performance squad from which they will probably pick are Amjad Khan and Saj Mahmood…. so like I said, no stand out candidate…

Not that I’ve nailed down exactly my squad or team, does anyone out there reckon I’ve got this horribly wrong? Let me know in the comments below!

Still, I’m not as miserable as everyone on Sky Sports, who are a bunch of complete know it alls, Botham in particular (again). Bring Bumble into the commentary box quickly for the ODI’s! We know you think Strauss batted for a bit too long, but why the such incredulity about it? We know why he did what he did, don’t question it like it was the most baffling thing in the world. In all honesty we did well to get as close as we did on both the roads we nearly won on, especially with the bowling attack the way it was. And so what if we’re down to 6th in the World Rankings as a result, does anyone really care where we are unless its first? It isn’t going to make us win or lose in the Ashes this summer – players do that.

As for the referrals – they work in some situations and not in others. But decent umpires would be a start – lets get the ICC worrying about that first.

P.S Note to self, the Aussies are starting to look decent once again… that didn’t take long
P.P.S Surely Amjad Khan will be joining Pattinson in the one test ‘wonders’ camp