Rogers, Watson try to secure spots

Lost somewhat in the hubbub about Chris Rogers' failed tour group venture was a most intriguing Australian team selection for the Kent tour match in the medieval city of Canterbury.

What the coach Darren Lehmann and the selection chairman Rod Marsh have cooked up is what amounts to a series of duels between specialist incumbents and their shadow men, while a quartet of missing players can feel rather more secure about their places in the team for the first Test in Cardiff next month.

David Warner, Adam Voges, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are all sitting this one out, leaving room for others to scrap for their places.

Starting off at the top, Rogers will be opening alongside Shaun Marsh, the man who replaced him in the Caribbean after a bout of concussion. That Warner is being rested from the fixture means either his place is secure for Cardiff or that a better glimpse of Marsh is being sought, thus meaning Rogers will need to make runs to regain his berth.

In the middle of the batting order, Shane Watson is set to come in at No. 5, one place ahead of his current Test spot and also one ahead of Mitchell Marsh, the young allrounder with aspirations to replace the older man as Australia's utility player. Watson's form has been spotty at best in recent times, and his two innings in the West Indies were sharply contrasting in terms of approach, veering from the brazen to the benign, without success.

Both Watson and Marsh deliver seam-up bowling of a fast-medium pace that has a chance of succeeding in England, so it is by their batting that they can be separated. Marsh played well in the first innings of a practice match on the Isle of Wight after arriving early to England, and Watson will be in search of a score to keep himself narrowly ahead in the queue.

Most selection talk entering into this trip has centred on how Australia can possibly squeeze all four of Hazlewood, Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris into the Test XI. By resting the former duo in Canterbury, Lehmann and Marsh have allowed Johnson and Harris to re-unite with Peter Siddle as the trio who bowled so unstintingly in the 5-0 defeat of England down under in 2013-14.

Siddle is now very much the understudy, but Harris and Johnson both have a little to prove this week to ensure they are in the team for the first Test. Hazlewood and Starc are rising up fast, and each demonstrated his appetite for destruction during the West Indies Tests. Johnson was a little less threatening then, though the captain Michael Clarke thought he could see a senior man working through the gears in time for the major assignment in England.

"I am focused on how he is bowling right now and what I have seen today is a real positive for us - he is bowling with good pace," Clarke said. "I thought he used the West Indies tour really well to get his rhythm back, and he spent a lot of time working on things while he was out there. That's the skill of Mitchell now. If something doesn't feel quite right, he can actually fix it in a game."

By his own admission, Harris bowled patchily on the Isle of Wight, but was looking far more dangerous during the team's day-long training sessions at Merchant Taylors' School in north-west greater London. More than anything, Harris needs overs under his belt to find the rhythm and confidence he needs to be at his best, having been somewhat underdone when he played a muted role during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home.

Lastly, the selectors have granted Fawad Ahmed the chance to operate as the lone spinner this week, as Lyon cools his heels. While Lyon remains well ahead of Fawad in the order of preference, Australian fascination with wrist spin - and English aversion to it - will allow the former asylum seeker to turn the head of Lehmann, Marsh and Clarke with an eye-catching display. It's up for grabs now.

Australians: Michael Clarke (capt), Chris Rogers, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith, Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Fawad Ahmed.