Selectors in a spin

In the Age, Chloe Saltau writes that the Australian under the most pressure in India is not Ricky Ponting or Jason Krejza or Mitchell Johnson. It’s Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors.

For the first time in more than a decade, a period in which Australian cricket was so flush with talent that the biggest decisions were about who to leave out rather than who to pick, the focus settles squarely on Hilditch and his men, Merv Hughes, Jamie Cox and David Boon.

Whatever happens in the next three days, they will have to gamble on an uncapped and untried bowler to support the relatively established pace trio of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson, who nevertheless have not played a Test in India between them.

Nor do Cameron White, Jason Krejza and rising Victorian paceman Peter Siddle — the three candidates for the last bowling spot — have a baggy green between them, but that would not be of such concern if they, like so many of the ready-made replacements the selectors have been able to turn to during the changing of the guard in recent years, had extensive qualifications in first-class cricket.

Jon Pierik in the Daily Telegraph considers a few of the problems facing Australia in this series.