Australia’s spin wizard Shane Warne believes that England have the edge over the Australians as teams inch closer to the all-important Ashes. According to the legendary blonde, the Australians look dizzy at the moment with their decision of selecting Tim Payne as their wicket keeper.
However, the former Australian skipper Mark Taylor seems satisfied with the board’s decision to opt for Payne and the other in-form players who will feature in the first two Ashes Test.
On the other hand, England have kept themselves away from the limelight at the moment as they are focusing on their final warm-up match in Townsville.
The Aussie selectors paved the way for a million questions on Friday when they announced the selection of fresher Cameron Bancroft, an ageing Shaun Marsh and Tim Payne in their 13 man squad.
Tim Payne has been out of the national Test scenario since October 2010, and Mathew Wade’s dominance over the position has forced him to wicketkeeping at the domestic level.
“England at the moment are just going along nicely,” Warne said at Wide World of Sports launch of the Magellan Ashes at North Sydney Oval today. “They’re just doing their business.
“Australia look confused. “They’re picking wicketkeepers that aren’t even keeping for their state.” added Warne. “To me, I think England are in a better situation going into that first Test than what Australia are.”
However, Mark Taylor begged to differ. Taylor went to pat the selectors on their back for choosing players in-form but labelled Paine’s selection as a “shock”.
“I think they’ve had Tim Paine higher on the pecking order than a lot of us did, and they’ve made a couple of form selections which I think are bold selections and good ones. “I think they’ve made some tough decisions, bold ones, up front.” said Mark Taylor.
“They’ve said this is the side we believe is the most in-form side to beat England and we’re going to pick it.” concluded Taylor.