Oz selectors can also chose tried and tested performers for the Ashes

SYDNEY - As the Australian side licks its wounds following the 2-0 Test loss to India, talk in Australia has focused on the future look of the team, with a groundswell urging for the selection of young New South Wales gun Usman Khawaja.

However, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, there has been a distinct lack of discussion about the considerable experienced talent that knows how to win and is ready, willing and able to take over from struggling incumbents to represent the nation against England.

Coincidentally, several of them are Victorians, a point not lost on Bushrangers coach Greg Shipperd.

“You’d have to ask the selectors [why they're on the outside of the Test team and not the inside],” Shipperd said.

He added: “They’re all excellent players and if given an opportunity at international level for any period of time all of them would be a real success.”

Shipperd believes three players - Hussey, Rogers and Hodge - have been on the receiving end of “an ageist view” in higher selection.

“There might be a perception, from a Test point of view, that time might have passed them by, But they are players who are in the business of winning, like the national team is. So, it might not be a bad idea to pick blokes who know how to win and are playing and doing very well,” he said.

Among the also rans, who have the potential to make the national squad are off-spinner Jason Krejza, who took 12 wickets on debut against India in India in 2008.

Fast bowler Stuart Clark is another, having snared 94 wickets in his 24 Tests overall at an average of 24. He, too, has disappeared from national calculations.

Cameron White is a supremely gifted all-rounder who captained Victoria at age 20 and has been a leading domestic player in every form of the game for ages. He played four Tests a couple of years ago but then fell off the planet.

Chris Rogers has played one Test and then lost his contract.

David Hussey has scored 39 first-class centuries but hasn’t been granted a baggy green. Brad Hodge, who scored a double in test against the West Indies and has over 17,000 first-class runs under his belt, is definitely a surprise exclusion.

Andrew McDonald, who blasted 21 fours and seven sixes in a two-hour 163 off 116 balls in a Sheffield Shield match a fortnight ago, is another also ran. (ANI)