Matt Cleary

All of us who wrote him off when we heard he had been picked for the Ashes will now proceed to eat our hats

Ten nightwatchmen who (mostly) went above their call of duty

Cricketers who could also swing a club or a foot or two

Let us compile a list of the most implausible reasons shall we?

For Australia, it's a time of bitter introspection about what has gone wrong

The DRS has opened up a whole other barrel of monkeys with machine guns, hasn't it?

He doesn't do enough in the air or off the pitch - except for when he does

Thought only selectors make shocking picks? How about having no frontline spinner for the first Ashes Test?

Ask a few of the kilt-raising, cricket-hating Scots who met him in Worcester in 1999 and they'd agree wholeheartedly with the assessment

A team featuring an Oxford graduate, a farm boy from Dungog, and an artistic wicketkeeper. And Shane Warne

It's important to attend a game or two for the sake of your health and happiness. Get to it

What would an Ashes series be without Aussies and Poms giving each other stick about something or other? Answer: nothing

The squad that toured a country under apartheid in 1985-86 played some quality, hard-fought cricket, but at what cost?

Why Channel Nine should be applauded for not broadcasting domestic cricket in Australia

Going on a tour, writing a match report, talking to Big Merv... try doing some of these things before you meet your maker

One December afternoon in 1982, Allan Border found an ally in the form of No. 11 Jeff Thomson and they almost pulled off the greatest last-wicket chase in history

Their styles were completely different but the result was always the same: quick runs and defeated bowlers

The squad that has been selected isn't bad at all. The quicks could trouble batsmen, and someone like Usman Khawaja needs just one good score to start a chain of them

Show them a good time through the sidelights, and if they enjoy themselves they may come back for more

And so, for no reason, cricket's greatest beard XI