The Ashes Blog

Apparently England is seriously thinking of bringing back Mark Ramprakash or Marcus Trescothick for the final Test at The Oval. I find this unbelievable.

Firstly, if Ramprakash or Trescothick are good enough for the fifth Test, why weren’t they good enough for the previous four Tests? Why weren’t they even considered for the previous four Tests?

Secondly, imagine what England crowds and the media would be saying if the situation was reversed and Australia was talking about recalling a 39 year old player. It’d be on for young and old!!  Who could that Australian player be? How about one of Australia’s national selectors, Jamie Cox. He’s just a month younger than Mark Ramprakash, he’s made big runs at Australian domestic and England county level (51 first class centuries), and as a selector he could pick himself for the side! Or how about Shane Warne, who is also 39 years old. Now that would worry England.

Now consider the headlines if Jamie Cox was being considered as a replacement player for Simon Katich, or if Shane Warne was looking at getting a game ahead of Nathan Hauritz:

“Australia: Grandad’s Army”

If a 39 year old was to play for Australia, he would be old enough to be the father of Australia’s youngest squad member, Phillip Hughes. It really would be a step up from “Dad’s Army” to “Grandad’s Army”!

Where are these headlines in the England daily papers?  They’re not there because some people in the English media would love to see one of the old guys come back again and save the day for mighty England. It’d certainly make a great movie.

So, will Trescothick or Ramprakash play the fifth Test at The Oval? No. England selectors are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for, and I think the only change they’ll make will be to remove Ravi Bopara (who is obviously out of his league playing Australia at Test level), and replace him with Robert Key or Jonathan Trott. That’s it. No big comeback, no strictly come dancing, no romantic finale. All the talk about Ramps and Tresco making a comeback is ridiculous. England has lost just the one Test for goodness sake!  One Test!  There’s no need to be bringing players out of retirement at this stage.

Updated August 15, 2009: England’s selectors have apparently done exactly what I expected them to do and have dumped Ravi Bopara and replaced him with Jonathan Trott for the Fifth Test:

“England will give Jonathan Trott a Test debut against Australia at The Oval next week as they seek to reverse the horrors of Headingley by pulling off a victory that would regain the Ashes.

They will resist the clamour for mass changes after an innings defeat in the fourth Test, with Ravi Bopara the only batsman to suffer. Bopara will be dropped, with Ian Bell taking his place at No3.”
- England drop Ravi Bopara and bring in Jonathan Trott for Ashes finale