Crawley
Khawaja
Stokes
Root
Marsh
Bairstow
Woakes
Wood
Murphy
Starc
Broad
Based (just about) on best averages. Carey undoubtedly the better keeper but he added little
with the bat. Smith has an aura but his average was way down the list, plus Marsh can bowl. Stokes has to bat at 3. I have no doubt Lyon would have been in had he not been injured. Long tail but some quick runs in it.
I think the compressed format of this series, apparently to make way for the Hundred, really harmed the Aussies. They had no time to see if their squad players had any form, surely Warner would have been dropped if they had a semi functioning replacement, and their second line bowlers/sort of all rounders Green and Boland were really not worth the trip, though Green might come good with time.
At the end the Aussies did really well to draw the series. For me Bazball only works with a team which is 100% committed to it and has the capability to implement, and England are there at the moment - they play this way because they like it. The way they bat, especially, takes the initiative from the opponents, to the extent that Cummins put us in to bat at the Oval because he knows we like a chase - he was playing our tactics, not the conditions, and was immediately on the back foot. Stokes and McCullum were well into Cummins’ head by the end and it showed.
It will be interesting to see what happens in India….