A blessing and a curse

Players swear by the IPL, but some English fans may have reason to curse the lucrative tournament. Two prospective Ashes opponents provide the perfect example of why this might be the case: Australian fast bowler Brett Lee and English allrounder Andrew Flintoff.

These two talented players are already etched in Ashes history, thanks to the famous photograph after England's nailbiting victory at Edgbaston in 2005. If it wasn't for a stint in the IPL after an ankle operation, Lee wouldn't have had much chance of being chosen for this year's touring party. On the other hand, Flintoff's short stay in the IPL resulted in an injured knee, another operation, and some doubt about whether he'd be available for this year's Ashes.

Flintoff, who has already missed the series against West Indies, and is out of the Twenty20 world tournament, is in a race to be fit for the Tests against Australia. If either player misses the Ashes series, it will diminish the contest, and if England were to lose because of Flintoff's absence, there's no doubt it will raise the ire of the home fans.

The Australian fans, on the other hand, can say a quiet prayer of thanks to the IPL, because without Lee there would have been a gaping hole in the bowling attack. As it is, the Australian selectors have confused more than convinced with some of their other choices.

The main area of confusion is the choice of Andrew McDonald as an allrounder and Nathan Hauritz as the sole slow bowler. McDonald is, as one writer described former New Zealand seamer Bob Cunis, "Neither one thing nor the other." He doesn't bat well enough to be in the top six, and his bowling is of the sort that should be provided by one of the frontline batsmen. McDonald's greatest virtue as a bowler is his accuracy, and Hauritz is also better equipped to contain batsmen rather than to run through a line-up. Containers are a blessing in the shipping industry, but not a priority when choosing frontline Test bowlers.

It was disappointing that the legspinner Bryce McGain was discarded after one, albeit horrendous, Test performance. Legspinners can confuse English batsmen, and they don't always have to be Shane Warne. McGain is certainly no Warne, but he's a lot better than what he showed in South Africa.

The other hard-to-fathom selection is the absence of a back-up opening batsman. This may sound strange in view of Phillip Hughes' mastery of all bowlers - Test or county - but there will come a time when the tide turns for the aggressive left-hander. If it were to happen at the beginning of the Ashes series and to coincide with a similar downturn for his partner Simon Katich, who is a "made" rather than natural opener, then Australia has no suitable alternatives.

Michael Hussey could normally fill that role, but he's currently trying to decode the mysteries of bowling and probably doesn't want to hear about facing the new ball.

What makes this situation even more worrying for Australia is the rapid improvement in England's swing-bowling armoury. The West Indies batting line-up may be ordinary, outside Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and the occasional sortie from Chris Gayle, but the England bowlers were impressive in their destruction.

Remember how England beat Australia in 2005? By good, and at times great, swing bowling. Well, they're building up another attacking force faster than North Korea, most of them with the ability to swing the ball in devastating fashion. James Anderson has really come of age, and now looks as good as anybody when the ball is swinging. Stuart Broad is improving rapidly; Tim Bresnan, once he settled down, and Graham Onions looked capable when the ball was swinging.

And if England really want to handicap Australia, they could produce some dry pitches and play two spinners. This would give them much more than a home-ground advantage.

If England have the luxury of adding Flintoff to this much-improved group of bowlers, the attack will look so much more dangerous. There's no doubt Lee improves Australia's firepower, but Flintoff's presence is crucial for England; that's why at the end of the Ashes series some may be swearing by the IPL, while others will have reason to curse it.