Love is a ring, the telephone

PL: The third round of Sheffield Shield has played out and selectors must now pick the Ashes squad

Stranger things have happened

First morning of the 2023 Ashes, Mitch Marsh stops the press box in its tracks as he grabs the bowler’s can of paint and marks out his run-up next to the usual trio. The prankster of the Australian outfit had me thinking the selectors had pulled off one of their crazier stunts for a while there, but when the team sheets were handed over at the toss, his name was not among the XI. Funny bugger. He did, however, play the last three, kicking off with a century and a couple of wickets at Headingley.

What’s your XI?

Seriously, let us know in the comments, help us out here.

I’m tortured and uncertain, and I only hope that three wise men paid to pick the squad and the side are feeling a little less anguished about the task, but if I had to make a call right now, this is it:

Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood

Then again, I could also live with this:

Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood

I’ve got Brendan Doggett in the squad. Josh Inglis as a spare bat and Sean Abbott as the other spare bowler.

I note, however, that Greg Chappell is going all in and wants Mitch Marsh to open with Khawaja:

“Mitchell Marsh’s record against (Mark) Wood is excellent. He can counter-attack and pulverise like few others and is one of the best players of pace in the country. He would be taking on the family firm established by his father and continued by his older brother Shaun. In fact, there is only one problem: he would have to change his mind, as he turned it down the last time he was asked. He is my first-choice opener in Perth.”

Truth is, it’s rarely been harder to know exactly what shape Australia’s top order should take for the first Test. Is batting Marnus out of position as an opener a no-go after the experiment with Smith a few years back? Even so, you may need Webster’s bowling to avoid putting too much load on Green.

The permutations and combinations are as perturbing as they are concerning.