Oz selector Hilditch indicates Clark will be dropped for Ashes decider

ADELAIDE - The chairman of Australia’s cricket selection committee, Andrew Hilditch, has declared that Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle are the future of the Australian bowling attack and that fourth Test hero Stuart Clark will be dumped for the Ashes decider at The Oval.

“Stuart Clark got the nod (last Test) and he did a good job, but the other three bowled exceptionally well also and took more wickets,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Hilditch, as saying.

“So, I think we go into the final Test with those three fast bowlers as our leading fast bowlers at the moment, plus spinner Nathan Hauritz.”

SBS Ashes commentator and former Test spinner Stuart MacGill, however, led a chorus of support for Clark’s retention - claiming he reignited Australia’s Ashes campaign at Headingley.

The New South Wales seamer made an immediate impact with 3-18 in his first innings but appears to have lost support after being belted in the second innings, when he finished with 0-74 off 11 overs.

“I don’t think only Stuart Clark would be hard done by if he missed out on the final Test - I think the Australian public would be hard done by,” MacGill said.

“I believe Andrew Hilditch’s comments that the future of Australian bowling does lie with Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Siddle. But we have to pick a team for now, not tomorrow, and Clark needs to be in that team,” MacGill added.

Hilditch expressed his views on the pace line-up as he unveiled the limited-overs squads in Adelaide.

Former Test spinner Greg Matthews said Clark, his Sydney University grade cricket teammate, had “left the door open for the fifth Test axe” when he leaked runs and looked tired in the second innings at Headingley.

Matthews said he could understand the selectors wanting to bring Hauritz back in to the XI, adding that he believed the New South Wales tweaker had been “the second best bowler for Australia” in the Ashes series behind Hilfenhaus. (ANI)