Marsh blames 'reactive' selectors

Rod Marsh, the former England selector and Australia wicketkeeper, believes Ricky Ponting's side should have made changes after the first Test and subsequent decisions were "reactive". Marsh, the ECB Academy coach, said in the Sunday Mail that young players should have been picked early in the series because of their fearlessness.

"Bringing Tait in for this game was reactive, not proactive, and after Lord's they should have got him in," Marsh said. "You could see that things weren't right there. Even though Australia won, it was more because England played badly."

Marsh said the best way to get a team back on track was to include fresh faces. "When things aren't going well you have to bring youth in because the youngsters have a complete lack of fear," he said.

Other problems highlighted by Marsh, who will return to Adelaide at the end of the series, were the lack of an allrounder and a four-man attack. "The key difference between the teams has been England's ability to play five specialist bowlers," he said. "Australia have only got four to choose from, which is a policy they have had for a number of years. That is fine when you are playing teams that aren't that good. But when you are getting a hiding, then it's hard to compete."