No rush on Ashes squad

AN unprecedented schedule has prompted Australia’s selectors to ask for flexibility regarding their deadline for the Ashes squad.

Australia’s touring party for Ashes trips has always been named months in advance, but this year’s group could be picked just two weeks before the first Test starts on August 1.

“There’s no definitive date as yet but it will be as late as possible … that’s the aim,” chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said yesterday.

“We are certainly looking at a couple of those Australia A four-day games before naming the Ashes squad.”

It’s understood selectors will likely name a 15-man World Cup squad in early April, when they will also finalise this year’s contract list.

Hohns and Greg Chappell are expected to split the job of on-duty selector during the World Cup, ensuring they have some time at home during Australia’s seemingly endless winter in England.

The second half of the Sheffield Shield season plus an Australia A tour of England will shape the final Ashes squad, as will performances at the World Cup.

Australia A’s games overlap with the World Cup, ensuring selectors will have acclimatised reserves ready to step up in the case of any injuries during the tournament.

The A team’s second fourday match starts on July 14. Those players will stick around to face the Test squad in Australia’s only tour game before their Ashes defence begins at Edgbaston.

Kurtis Patterson’s late addition to the Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka, after he dominated for Australia A, showed the panel is willing to break with tradition.

Separating the pretenders from the contenders in the World Cup, Ashes and Australia A squads has been made more challenging because of a chaotic schedule, complex scenarios, conflicting interests and much uncertainty.

“We are keeping a close eye on everything and everybody,” Hohns said.