Ashes: Chief selector Miller quietly confident about ‘resilient’ England taking on Aussies

LONDON - Chief selector Geoff Miller has said that the squad doing duty for England for the upcoming Ashes series, is the most resilient to be sent to Australia in nearly a quarter of a century.

Miller said that he was more than a little confident that the tourists were ready to retain the Ashes by accounting for Ricky Ponting’s side in the five-Test series starting in Brisbane on November 25.

When asked if it was the most resilient unit since Mike Gatting’s squad of 1986-87, Miller said: “I think so, but it is the quality (that) is (also) there.”

“There is more of the top quality there than I think what we have had before. I am talking about the amount of quality. There are match winners the whole way through there,” he added.

“So, I am not saying we are going to walk this … but I am quietly confident,” Miller said.

Australia are alert but not alarmed, with coach Tim Nielsen saying the choice of squad wasn’t unexpected.

“Height was probably the thing I noticed this morning when I saw the squad, it was interesting to note they picked six foot, seven inch Tremlett and went back to the left-arm orthodox in Panesar,” said Nielsen.

“They’re two things we expected, and in truth they’re probably more depth players rather than first selected players. They’ve gone for guys, one who can spin the ball away from the right-handers and another who they’re hoping will make the ball bounce in Australia,” Fox Sports quoted Nielsen, as saying.

With the Test squad focused on getting themselves ready for the challenge of India before glancing too closely upon the Ashes, Nielsen said staff at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane were going about the task of forming battle plans for the home summer.

“Our biggest challenge is to ensure we maintain our focus here in India and it will give us tremendous warm-up, practice and Test match cricket leading into the Australian summer.(ANI)