Alastair Cook to face aspiring England bowlers before first Ashes Test

Alastair Cook’s bravery with the bat has never been questioned but the England captain’s mettle will be severely tested over the next few days when he faces up to a group of giant pace bowlers and two county tearaways, Tymal Mills and Harry Gurney, on the fastest net pitches in world cricket.

Normally it is a captain’s perk to be able to delegate, but not when Andy Flower is in charge and not when three of the colossi, Steven Finn, Boyd Rankin and Chris Tremlett, are vying for the third seamer’s role and are out to impress the captain into handing it to them.

Perception is everything and a good spell against Cook will count double, providing their thunder is not stolen by the rapid Mills who has been joined by Gurney in order to replicate the kind of left-arm bowling – think Mitchell Johnson – England expect to face when the Test series begins in just over three weeks time.

“The third seamer spot is up for grabs,” Cook said after England’s first training session at the Waca Ground yesterday. “In the past Andy Flower always made sure any bowlers pushing for a place bowled at Andrew Strauss when he was captain.”

Mills, 21, is a team-mate of Cook’s at Essex, but is more raw potential than finished article. That means he is very fast but unpredictable, a combination that saw several England players struck by him when they played a practice match against Essex last summer. “I think Tymal is pretty much the quickest bowler in England,” Cook said.

“I think the next couple of weeks are going to be quite interesting. We’ve got four giants who can bowl pretty quickly and two skiddier ones who can bowl just as quick. When I found out Tymal and Harry were joining us I began digging around in my bag for an armguard, but I don’t seem to have one.”

England stress that Mills and Gurney, who plays for Nottinghamshire, are not part of the squad. Yet Cook, perhaps acknowledging his own quick rise into the England team in 2006, following a sudden injury to Michael Vaughan, reckons the two have a great chance to impress the people who count.

“Tymal and Harry are here to offer practice against left-arm bowling,” Cook said. “But it is also a great opportunity for them to train with us. It is amazing how careers can change very quickly. By really impressing you just never know what can happen. They will be looking at it as an opportunity to press their claims.”

The No?6 spot in the batting order will also be contested, the aspirants being Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance. Whoever plays against the Western Australia Chairman’s XI on Thursday will probably play in the first Test. That means nets over the next few days, as they will be for the fast bowlers, are crucial. “All being well, it might be the case that whoever is selected at six for the first match will play in the first Test in Brisbane,” Cook said. “But you can never say for definite.”

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Australia's Starc set to miss Ashes

Australia bowler Mitchell Starc is set to miss the Ashes in Australia later this year because of a back injury.

England beat Australia 3-0 this summer and the return Test series starts on 21 November in Brisbane.

Starc, 23, has an early stage stress fracture of the lower back and Cricket Australia says he is "expected to be unavailable for a prolonged period".

Matches: 12 Wickets: 41 Average: 33.60 Debut: Australia v New Zealand, December 2011 Fellow bowler Jackson Bird also has a back problem but should be fit for the Ashes.

However, along with Starc, Australia also have fitness concerns over pacemen James Pattinson, Ryan Harris and Pat Cummins.

Pattinson, 23, was ruled out of the recent Ashes series after two Tests by a back injury, while 33-year-old Harris injured his hamstring in the fifth Test at The Oval.

Back trouble, including a stress fracture, has also been the problem for 20-year-old Cummins who has not managed another Test since his man-of-the-match debut in Johannesburg in 2011. He is also expected to miss the Ashes series down under.

Left-armer Starc played in three of the five Tests against England and was Australia's third highest wicket-taker, claiming 11 scalps at an average of 32.45.

"While it's a disappointing result for Mitch, we know he will bounce back," said Cricket Australia general manager Pat Howard.

"Starc, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins are all under 24 years of age and we are certainly well aware that until fast bowlers get into their mid-20s they are more susceptible to injury."

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YB40 title would top Ashes - Jones

Fast bowler Simon Jones says winning the YB40 with Glamorgan would be bigger than lifting the Ashes with England.

Glamorgan reached the final at Lord's, where they will play Somerset or Nottinghamshire on 21 September, with a 31-run win at Hampshire on Saturday.

Jones was part of the 2005 England side that reclaimed the Ashes from Australia for the first time since 1987.

"It's bigger because [when] you look at an England team, it's the cream of the crop," he said.

2012: Hampshire beat Warwickshire (lost fewer wickets, pictured) 2011: Surrey beat Somerset by five wickets 2010: Warwickshire beat Somerset by three wickets

The tournament was known as the CB40 from 2010-2012, but is now known as the YB40

"Just to work with these [Glamorgan] boys - just to see how hard they've worked to get here - it's a special feeling.

"For us to be at a Lord's final, no-one would have said that at the start of the year.

"We believed in ourselves and rightly so, because we know the talent we have in our squad, but I'm gobsmacked."

Jones is in his second spell with Glamorgan and is waiting to see if he is offered a contract extension as his current two-year deal will expire at the end of this season, but a Lord's final could provide a fitting end to his spell with Glamorgan if no agreement is reached.

But the pace bowler is full of confidence after their semi-final performance at the Ageas Bowl against former club Hampshire, for whom he played from 2009-11.

"We've always come close but we've never had that killer instinct just to finish people off," said the 34-year-old.

"To beat Hampshire by 31 runs, the holders, is an unbelievable feeling and it's something we can take into the final, and I think people will really respect us now.

"It's tough [on Hampshire]. I had some good times here but I'm a Welsh boy through and through and to come back and beat these boys is special.

"They're a serious outfit; they've got a real good team. They're very organised and to for us to beat them like we did, being underdogs... we smashed them."

The Welsh county have not won any silverware since 2004, when Robert Croft captained Glamorgan to the one-day league title, and it will be their first Lord's final for 13 years.

County Championship: 1948, 1969, 1997 Sunday / National League: 1993, 2002, 2004 Now Jones can look forward to playing at Lord's for the first time with the county where he began his senior career.

"I've played there a few times with England but never with Glamorgan. One of the things I've always wanted to do is represent Glamorgan at a final and I can't wait," he added.

"Yes, it's a very big stage but we've got to the final on merit, we've done things right - bowled well as a group, batted well as a group - it's an outstanding feeling because as a unit we're so tight.

"It's just a credit to everyone how hard we've worked and it's just nice to be there because we all deserve it.

"I'm just so pleased for Matthew Mott [the head of elite performance who will leave Glamorgan at the end of this season]. He's had a three-, four-year plan coming into this and it's about time someone gave him some praise.

"Things are looking up now. We came close in the T20. We haven't quite performed in the four-day stuff, but that's what it is."

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England Women complete Ashes thrashing of Australia Women with third Twenty20 win

By comfortably winning the third Twenty20 international with seven wickets and 3.4 overs to spare, England Women completed their drubbing of Australia Women to win their multi-format Ashes by 12 points to four.

While the Test was drawn in Australia’s favour – with two points for each side – England won the one-day series 2-1 and the Twenty20 series 3-0, sealing the first multi-format series for either gender.

Australia had overtaken England as the leading country for women’s cricket by winning the last 50-over and 20-over World Cups.

“A bit more self-belief,” was what England’s captain Charlotte Edwards said was the key difference, which was particularly evident when England twice chased down their target. “And we’ve won the key moments.”

The third T20 international did not make a good advertisement for women’s cricket because Australia’s batting was poor. The attraction of 20-over cricket lies in big hitting, and Australia could hit only five fours, even though the boundaries were 10 yards further in than for the men’s match that followed.

The best features of the game were England’s fielding, the wicketkeeping on both sides, Australia’s pace bowling and the batting of Lydia Greenway who followed her match-winning 80 – the highest for England in a T20 – in the second international with another unbeaten innings of 35.

Katherine Brunt was player of the match, partly for her opening spell but also for a direct hit run-out from deepish cover that set the standard for England’s fielding. There was no unforced error except one when the England captain’s knees let her down.

Australia’s opening bowling pegged England back to 14 for three as they chased only 92, but it was also pacy enough to offer scope for back-foot shots. There have been bowlers who have consistently reached 70mph – notably Brunt, Ellyse Perry and India’s Jhulan Goswami – but Holly Ferling, a willowy 17-year-old, could raise the bar to new heights.

For the moment, the challenge is hitting boundaries when there is little pace on the ball, and Greenway solved it with her similarities to Eoin Morgan as a wristy left-hander who loves to reverse-sweep.

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England team director Andy Flower deserves far better after Ashes series victory

But apparently England have possessed a negativity and, according to some, an arrogance that has irked. That charge of arrogance has been mainly made by Australians, which is side-splittingly funny in itself. One only had to listen to debutant James Faulkner upbraiding England’s first-innings batting at the Oval to confirm that.

England and Flower were not being arrogant in selecting Kerrigan and Woakes. Yes, the results of that selection were disappointing, but the rationale was hardly ridiculous.

They thought the pitch would spin like a top. They had summoned Kerrigan in case of that eventuality, with Woakes to accompany him, because a four-man attack, including a debutant, would have been too risky.

It might also be worth pointing out that Kerrigan actually has a better first-class bowling average, albeit in a much shorter career, than both Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.

But a farce it was, apparently, and the subsequent condemnation merely continued a year of frustration with Flower and his team: from not enforcing the follow-on against New Zealand to accusations of a ban on Ashes talk, to outrages against the spirit of the game, to more negative cricket and interviews perceived as anodyne from all concerned, to finally the story that players had urinated on the Oval pitch during the Ashes celebrations.

There is little doubt that Flower’s relationship with the media has deteriorated significantly.

He is clearly wearied by the constant criticisms, often appearing prickly and increasingly reserved and, in turn, there are gripes about his accessibility and that of senior players.

I should stress that I have not heard or read one person calling for Flower’s head - although I reckon a few would have done so had he made comments anything like those delivered on radio by Australia coach Darren Lehmann about Broad.

They were simply disgraceful, but instead of the jovial Lehmann the Australian media has fixed it sights squarely on Flower, with the likes of arch Pom-baiter Malcolm Conn talking of his “command bunker mentality” and his players’ interviews being “as colourful as a concrete driveway”. It was little surprise that it was Conn who broke ‘Splashgate’.

Yes, that behaviour was poor but it was hardly a heinous crime. When England went to Australia in 2010-11, the local media were like pussycats, resigned to defeat from the outset. They have clearly decided to rectify that during these two Ashes series.

I spoke to Flower last week. It was an off-the-record chat between old mates, and he obviously would not reveal any thoughts about his future (“you are still a journo” he always says), but I do not think he will mind my revealing that what was striking were the similarities between him and Duncan Fletcher in his later days as England coach.

The Zimbabwean accent was the same but so, too, was the mood. What is remarkable is that Fletcher had just endured a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2007; Flower has just won 3-0. These truly are curious times.

The speculation about Flower’s future began during the Oval Test when it was first mentioned, buried deep, in an article on the Cricinfo website. Then there was a story in the Sunday People that Flower will stand down after this winter’s Ashes.

I think there is some truth in these stories. I do not know for certain, but it would be no huge surprise should he go after this winter’s Ashes.

However, the suggestion that his employers at the England and Wales Cricket Board feel “he has run his course” and want to move him on is frankly preposterous.

Flower will go of his own accord. In my 2012 book The Plan, about the transformation of English cricket overseen by Flower and Fletcher, I wrote that I could not see Flower lasting more than two years in his position. That was before his job-share with Giles, who will certainly replace him full-time in due course.

Back-to-back Ashes means that leading the Test team is a stressful and time-consuming job. And this summer has been especially traumatic with a relative of Flower’s suffering a stroke while on holiday.

Flower travelled abroad between the second and third Tests to help. Thankfully, a good recovery is being made.

Hugh Morris’s resignation has not affected Flower’s thoughts - Morris only told him during the Oval Test – although Flower will doubtless assess the identity of Morris’ successor, for whom the England and Wales Cricket Board is already searching, before making a final decision.

And we can rule out Flower replacing Morris. That will not happen. It is a job Flower could do, of course, but he would probably need some breathing space away first.

England will struggle mightily to find a better man than Flower, but, if this is to be his last series this winter, then maybe we should cherish him a little more.

The importance of the peripherals is being exaggerated. Flower has created a winning culture, and it is not anywhere near as blinkered and unfeeling as some suggest.

How about we enjoy what is still a golden era for English cricket?

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Ashes 2013: ECB urged to examine claims England urinated on Oval pitch

An investigation has been launched and Surrey are likely to ask for an apology from the ECB for the incident which happened just before midnight on Sunday as the players celebrated their Ashes success.

The incident came to light because journalists from Australia were still working at the ground. It was reported in the Australian media that Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad and James Anderson urinated on the pitch while being cheered by team-mates.

Richard Gould, the Surrey chief executive, has described the behaviour as irresponsible and is in talks with the ECB. While players are expected to celebrate victory, it threatens to take the shine off England’s achievement in winning three successive Ashes series.

“We are very disappointed,” said Gould. “Nobody wants to put the mockers on any England celebration but that will be viewed by many people and by us as an irresponsible thing to have done.

"Knockabout stuff is one thing. But it is a very silly thing to do on a pitch at the Oval where there is so much heritage and history.

“I have spoken to the ECB let them know what we are aware of we will let them investigate further from within. We will see what they come back to us with.”

Shane Warne, the Telegraph Sport columnist, said: “When you play in a six to eight-week series of intense Ashes cricket you should always have a chance to let your hair down at the end.

“Unfortunately the way people are judged these days it’s best to celebrate within the confines of the dressing room.

“Stay in there as long as you like, get as drunk as you like if that is what you want to do and enjoy your team-mates and the moment.

“But to go and disrespect something as ancient as the Oval pitch in such an unnecessary and crass way is a pretty ordinary and arrogant thing to do, I wonder also if the opposition was mentioned too?

Hugh Robertson, the sports minister, urged the ECB to investigate the incident, saying: “If it happened, it’s not good behaviour.”

It is unlikely the players will face any action from the ECB other than a quiet word from the management.

Andy Flower, the England team director, refused to answer questions about the incident on Monday, asking: “Can we talk about the Test series win rather than a ridiculous topic like that?”

It is clear the management hope the issue will go away rather than reflect badly on a team who have won their third successive Ashes series.

“I noticed a significant change in their attitude in the last two Tests and the way they conducted themselves off the pitch,” said Warne.

“I thought they were very humble when they won the Ashes, but emotional and excited too. They celebrated with the fans, enjoyed each other, had their children with them, it was a very special time for the England players.

“It’s a real shame they let themselves down so badly and I’m sure it will have some big ramifications from the ECB.”

In 2005 the England players famously celebrated winning the Ashes against the great Australian side with a mammoth drinking session after the match which culminated in a reception at Downing Street with Tony Blair where it later emerged one of the players urinated in the Prime Minister’s garden.

In 2009 the ECB and Flower were very careful there was not a repeat. The players celebrated victory quietly before heading to Ireland for a 50-over match.

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Ashes 2013: England to step up security in Australia after Darren Lehmann's outburst

Broad revealed on Monday that the Australia coach has apologised to him for his remarks, but England will still be taking no chances.

“It is utterly deplorable for any attempt to endanger the physical safety of any player of any nation whether on the pitch, the boundary, or relaxing away from the cricket,” said Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“It is absolutely unacceptable and we will seek the proper safety for players. I’m sure the Australian authorities want the tour to be conducted in a peaceful and jovial manner.”

Andy Flower, England team director, also confirmed that there would be extra security in light of Lehmann’s comments, though he also stressed how the last Ashes tour to Australia had been a good experience on and off the field.

“It’s something we’re taking very seriously,” said Flower yesterday. “We enjoyed our tour of Australia last time, there’s always a little bit of barracking and what have you. In the main it’s fairly good natured and I’d hope it’ll be the same this next trip.”

The extent of reinforcement is not yet known and the England and Wales Cricket Board will await the recommendation of Reg Dickason, its security officer. All that a spokesman would confirm is that there would be no budget constraints on Dickason.

England usually have Dickason and one other security officer on tour with them, their duties ranging from getting the players on and off team buses, to planning the routes of those buses from hotel to ground, and escorting players to restaurants in the evening or on shopping trips by day. The thought is there will be at least one more addition to their retinue at a cost of at least £70,000 per person.

Although Flower likes his players to feel they are up against the world, he does not want them to be insular and become trapped in their hotel rooms. Added security will enable players to go out individually or in different groups.

Broad angered Australia’s players and public alike when he did not walk after clearly edging the ball in the opening Test at Trent Bridge. He then tried to justify his actions in a media interview before the final Test, which provoked Lehmann into making comments for which he was later fined £2,000 by the International Cricket Council.

“I hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer,” Lehmann said. “And I hope he cries and goes home ”

The Australia coach apologised to Broad for the comments after the Test series ended on Sunday. "Spoke to Darren Lehmann. He apologised for his comments, I accepted. He said they were made in jest for banter. Done," Broad tweeted yesterday.

Lehmann also promised to learn from the experience. "It was a good learning curve for a new coach, wasn't it?" he said.

"You know, it was a jovial setting but you've got to learn from that. The players aren't on their own in trying to improve, coaches have got to improve so that's something I've got to get better at."

Australia usually makes tourists feel very welcome – and 50,000 fans are expected for the next Ashes series – but the worry is that Broad, whose 6ft 6in frame and blond hair helps him cut a distinctive figure, might be fair game for the odd patriotic “Hoon” to have a go at. It happened to John Crawley in Cairns on the 1994/5 tour when he was punched to the floor by a local man for no apparent reason other than that he looked Irish.

On that same tour occupants of the MCG’s infamous Bay 13 lobbed snooker balls at England’s players during a one-day international there. Australia tends to frown on such behaviour these days but the worry is that Lehmann’s comments might have provided enough “incitement,” in the words of the ECB, to bring them out of their lairs.

Australia's coach has been vilified in the Australian press. What has not been addressed is the role of the radio stations in provoking responses like his. Lehmann spoke to Triple M but it was another station, 2 Day FM, which instigated the royal prank last December when their two presenters, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, posed as the Queen and the Prince of Wales to inquire at a clinic about the Duchess of Cambridge’s morning sickness.

The prank made global headlines and was followed by the suicide of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who fielded the call from the two pranksters.

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Ashes 2013: England's Stuart Broad accepts apology from Darren Lehmann

Lehmann was fined 20 per cent of his match fee for the fifth Ashes Test for describing, during a radio interview on the eve of the match, Broad's refusal to walk after an edge in the series opener as "blatant cheating".

But the England man said the matter was now closed. Broad wrote on Twitter: "Spoke to Darren Lehmann last night. He apologised for his comments, I accepted it. He said they were made in Jest for banter. Done."

England took a series besieged by talking points 3-0, with Lehmann at the heart of some of them.

Speaking to Australian radio station Triple M about Broad last week, Lehmann also called on the Australian public to "get stuck into him" when England tour this winter, adding that he hoped the seamer "cries and goes home".

England were not moved to report the incident to the International Cricket Council, but ICC chief executive Dave Richardson laid a charge himself and Lehmann pleaded guilty to "publicly criticising and making inappropriate comments" about Broad.

He accepted match referee Roshan Mahanama's proposal of a 20 per cent fine - about £2,000 - which meant no formal hearing was necessary.

Lehmann has insisted he would learn from the Broad situation. "I've had a chat with him already. We just move on," he said. "It was a good learning curve for a new coach, wasn't it? You know, [it was] a jovial setting but you've got to learn from that. I've got to learn and improve from that.

"The players aren't on their own in trying to improve. Coaches have got to improve so that's something I've got to get better at."

Despite the 3-0 defeat and the criticism received following the radio interview, Lehmann still has a passion for the role and is looking forward to the remainder of the tour in England.

"I'm still loving it, it's a great job," he added. "I'd like to win a Test match, but it's a fantastic job. I've seen all the players here, and the one-day and Twenty20 players are starting Thursday, so you get to deal with them and look at how we're going in that format of the game as well.

"By the end of the tour I'll have a really good mindset on all the players which will be quite comforting for me as coach. The players seem to be enjoying it which is good but we also realise we need to win some games."

Having replaced Mickey Arthur barely a fortnight before the opening Test at Trent Bridge, Lehmann believes he has not had time to stamp his own philosophy on the Australia team but expects that to change when England travel Down Under for the return series.

"It is really hard when you've just come into the set-up and the touring side's been picked," Lehmann added.

"When we're back home you'll probably see different things happen, but in terms of hearing a lot of things from outside and not being in that circle for many years, to come in and see how they're trying to improve all the time - that was impressive for me. Now it's a matter of improving that skill level to compete better than we have."

(Editing by Robert Dineen)

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Andy Flower coy about his long-term future with England ahead of Ashes series in Australia later this year

“I don’t look that far ahead to be honest,” he said. “You never know what’s just round the corner in sport.

"I do take the responsibility that the England and Wales Cricket Board have given me very seriously and I’m supposed to make a difference to English cricket in a positive way. I’ll continue to do that.”

For starters he will want to see who the ECB appoints in Hugh Morris’s place as managing director of England cricket, after Morris handed in his resignation on Monday

Flower worked well with Morris, who is to become Glamorgan’s chief executive in the new year, and while it was felt that their relationship had perhaps run its course a while ago, he will want to see what rapport he has with the new incumbent when they are appointed.

The return Ashes series concludes next January after which England play no Test cricket overseas for the remainder of the year as the focus shifts to the 2015 World Cup.

The result of that Ashes series could be crucial and some believe Flower will have a job keeping the team together as several senior players may seek to retire from international cricket.

“I don’t think that will happen,” Flower said. “There will always be movement because it’s a competitive environment and we select the side we think will have the best chance of winning a match or series.

"In that regard it’s quite a ruthless world. No one’s there forever, no matter how great a player is, or however great an MD is, or however a coach is going. We all move on.”

The splitting of the role into Test and one-day cricket, with Ashley Giles taking day-to-day control of the latter, was done at Flower’s behest in order for him to achieve a better work-life balance, which was out of kilter with him being away from his young family for up to 250 days a year.

It was also done to increase his longevity in the job, with the ECB readily agreeing to the split role last December.

Yet that split, a difficult thing for an avowed control freak like Flower, is likely to be tested next year when there are no overseas Test matches after Jan 7.

Although not one to wallow in plaudits, Flower did miss out on overseeing England’s first 4-0 Ashes victory after the umpires called the game off for bad light when they needed 21 runs off 24 balls.

Views on the umpires’ decision have varied wildly, but while Flower did not really blame them, he was critical of the International Cricket Council, whose change to the playing conditions placed such decisions solely in the hands of umpires.

“We have spoken to the ICC a number of times over the years and while I can’t speak for the ECB, the description in the regulations of how they judge bad light I think is poorly written,” Flower said.

“The emphasis is on safety and very rarely is there a safety issue out in the middle.

"In my personal opinion it should be either a very strict reading on the light meter where there is a universal reading they could adhere to, or it should be about the fairness of the balance of the contest between bat and ball.

“I thought it was a very tricky situation last night because it was so close to a conclusion and the responsibility to entertain the people that were in the ground and watching on television has to be taken seriously.

"Did they get it right? Ask them.”

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Ashes 2013: Australia face further misery as seamer Ryan Harris faces fitness battle ahead of winter Test series

Harris, 33, was Australia's man of the series in the recent Test tour of England - claiming 24 wickets at 19.58 in four matches.

That was the first time he has ever played four Tests in a row due to a career-long battle with fitness problems.

Indeed, he has worn the Baggy Green just 16 times since his debut in March 2010 despite being considered one of his country's most incisive bowlers and boasting a superb record.

A Cricket Australia statement read: "Ryan Harris injured his right hamstring during the latter part of the second innings on the fifth Ashes Test. He had to leave the field and did not return to the game as he was unable to bowl.

"He was assessed after arriving back in Australia today and is expected to be unavailable to play for the next 6-8 weeks."

He was left out of this summer's Ashes opener at Trent Bridge but was arguably the most consistent pace man from either side after his belated arrival in the Lord's Test.

Speaking after taking five wickets in his first innings of the series, Harris said his ambition stretched only as far as flying home with his team-mates when the time came, rather than alone with yet another injury.

He managed that in the end, but only just. He was forced to watch the thrilling climax to the final Test from the dressing room at the Kia Oval having felt his hamstring tighten.

The first Test in Brisbane begins on November 21, leaving Harris with limited rehabilitation time should his recovery be completed as expected.

It is the latest in a succession of fitness issues among Australia's talented pace division, with Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Jackson Bird all being struck down with back injuries in the last few weeks.

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Ashes 2013: let us hope Simon Kerrigan's meltdown was down to nerves and not the dreaded yips

But in this instance that luxury was a horrible burden.

Kerrigan probably wanted to bowl more, but at the same time was petrified at what might happen if he did.

And there were another four days of the match, during which Kerrigan will have been questioning himself throughout.

Should he be there? Was he good enough to be there in the first place? Can he recover? What would he be like should he be selected again?

He would not be human were he not asking such questions.

I asked myself the same questions from the moment I received the call-up.

It was a different era, when selectorial doors were mostly revolving, but, having failed, the possibility that you might never play again was very real.

The series was against South Africa with Allan Donald at his swiftest, and captain Alec Stewart was busy organising chest pads for the batsmen. Did I need one? How did I know?

I have to admit that I feared for Kerrigan from the start. I had been at Northampton the previous Saturday when he had played for England Lions against Australia.

Shane Watson had taken him apart. It was as brutal a dismantling of a bowler as I have seen for a long time. T

here were signs of enough revolutions for the ball to turn, but Kerrigan, relying on an action without run up or front arm, in general bowled far too slowly.

So when Kerrigan was selected last Thursday morning, I tweeted the hope that his performance there had not been a fair reflection of his ability.

There followed the rather predictable rounds of abuse from a couple of Lancashire supporters about negativity.

I have since heard that Kerrigan’s natural pace is usually quite quick, that nerves made him bowl more slowly, both at Northampton, where he had been tipped off about possible selection, and in the Test.

But I was certainly not wishing ill upon him.

One should never forget the importance of an international debut, and that is not just the importance to the player himself or herself.

The emotions of those closest to you tell the truest story, in both elation and then disappointment if things do go awry.

And the player can feel guilty if the latter does arise.

For that second innings of my debut, which happened to be on a Saturday afternoon, the players of my club side, Lydney, arranged specially for a television to be at the club.

They watched it for only a few minutes. I still feel guilty about that.

Just imagine how Kerrigan feels.

And imagine further how he must have felt celebrating with the Ashes winners on Sunday night.

The super-sub Gary Pratt would have felt more comfortable in 2005.

The conclusions on Kerrigan have been swift and mostly harsh. But the real question is: did he suffer stage fright or the start of the yips?

Only time will truly tell. The yips among bowlers is usually associated with left-arm spinners such as Kerrigan.

Think Phil Edmonds, Keith Medlycott, Fred Swarbrook, Ravi Shastri and young Michael Davies, the former Northamptonshire spinner.

But right-armers have been afflicted too. Think of Gavin Hamilton, a one-Test wonder.

At Glamorgan I played alongside an off-spinner called Michael Cann, who at one stage did not know which foot to set off on. Unforgivably, I, along with my team-mates, laughed.

No one should laugh at Kerrigan now. And let us sincerely hope he is not another left-arm spinner to add to the yips list.

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Ashes 2013: 'Splashgate' is just not cricket - or at least not as we would like to recognise it

Visions of Gazza having some heinous cocktail of spirits squirted down his throat in a Hong Kong ‘dentist’s chair’ squared in sudden symmetry with our cricketers’ puerile prank.

Acts of crass delinquency, if we care to be reminded of rugby players being caught up in dwarf-tossing in a Queenstown backpackers’ bar, are increasingly infecting our gentlemen sports.

To judge by the supposed apology for Sunday night’s incident, dismissed by Swann as a “call of nature”, the England and Wales Cricket Board is also mirroring football’s capacity for insipid PR-speak. “As a team we pride ourselves on respecting all things cricket,” the statement read.

Well, besides not respecting the opposition, the pitch, the over rate, or the concept of a batsman walking when he is out, what precisely do this side respect? It is difficult to conceive an action more inherently disrespectful than one where, after a compelling final day’s action, the winners then decide to relieve themselves on the very same patch of grass.

In cricket, just as in rugby, the apologists will always advance the tiresome ‘boys will be boys’ defence. The wisdom prevails that as soon as stumps are drawn, the lads are free to engage in whatever outlandish form of hedonism floats their boat.

Thus do the tales of Ian Botham holding court at the Taj in Mumbai, forcing colleagues to neck king-size shots while quoting passages from the Gideon Bible, or that of David Boon drinking 52 ‘tinnies’ on the flight from Sydney to London in 1989 serve to enrich those players’ mystique.

Both Botham and Boon, admittedly, tend to pass that popular litmus test of ‘guys I wouldn’t mind sharing a pint with’. Urinating on the field of play, however, is the type of low-rent misdemeanour for which even footballers – especially footballers – would rightly be pilloried.

Stuart Broad, England’s unlikely enfant terrible of this Ashes series, naturally refused to comment on the issue on Wednesday. He merely spoke vapidly of “the end of the matter”, denying he had seen any newspaper headlines on a story that had colonised the agenda for three days.

Normally it is the football players who display this carefully cultivated remoteness, distancing themselves from controversy with a few meaningless banalities. But certain members of our cricket team are a breed apart when it comes to their engagement, or lack of it, with the subject at hand.

Kevin Pietersen had just made a beautifully composed century in the third Test at Old Trafford, only to alienate himself all over again with a monosyllabic masterpiece of a press conference. Does your knee hurt, Kevin? “Sometimes.” Will you need a rest at any point? “Nope.”

There is, of course, a history here. Pietersen, from the moment he lost the England captaincy in 2009, has loathed the press with a level of primal intensity that would make Sir Alex Ferguson’s vendettas look like playful badinage.

Given that his advocate-in-chief is that full-time celebrity leech, Piers Morgan, and that he now only grants interviews to his mates in the sport, KP does not exactly strain himself to project a lovable personality.

He is the emblem, alas, of a group of young men quite conspicuously unloved. While Alastair Cook’s side savour the satisfaction of a 3-0 series win, they ought to reflect upon how their uncompromising, occasionally cynical style of play denies them the acclaim that would otherwise be their due.

The ‘spirit of cricket’ can be a nebulous concept at the best of times but it refers, essentially, the notion of giving a little back to the game.

This is one department where Cook’s men – whether it be Broad’s time-wasting at Trent Bridge in taking off his shoe, or the England top order’s tactic of killing the match at the Oval with a glacial first-innings run rate – have been falling short all summer long.

On scoreline alone, England’s class of 2013 should command a place in the Ashes pantheon. And yet they are garlanded with nothing like the tributes showered upon the victorious teams of 2005 and 2009, when an open-top bus parade brought Trafalgar Square to a standstill or when Vauxhall residents would hang out of their balconies beside the Oval to watch the triumphant denouement.

The latest crop are a hardheaded, ferociously pragmatic bunch, but not in a fashion that redounds to their credit.

What they represent, as the ‘Splashgate’ after-party would illustrate, is just not cricket – or at least not as we would like to recognise it.

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England Women win the Ashes with five-wicket T20 win over Australia helped by Lydia Greenway's 80

Lydia Greenway matched speed of hand skills with nerveless composure to become England’s heroine as they regained the women’s Ashes.

Greenway made 80 from 64 balls as England won the second Twenty20 international with six balls to spare, overcoming a dreadful start suring which they slipped to nine for three chasing 128 for victory.

Charlotte Edwards, the England captain, will be presented with the Ashes trophy at Durham on Saturday, when once again the women’s game will precede the men’s match.

Edwards and her opposite number, Jodie Fields, both praised the new multi-game format in which points have been tallied up from the Test match, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20s to date. England now have an unassailable 10-4 lead with one T20 match to play.

The Australian team dined with the men’s side on Monday night and can now swap stories on how it feels to lose an Ashes series in England.

“I am pretty gutted to sit here and to have lost the Ashes,” Fields said. “When the men lost we saw it as our responsibility to bring it home but now both teams go home without the Ashes. All we can do is go away, look at ourselves and improve for the series in January.”

Just like the men, England and Australia’s women have a quick turnaround before the return series in the New Year which again will be played on a points format with a Test match at the WACA and Twenty20s before the men’s matches at the MCG, Hobart and Stadium Australia in Sydney.

Edwards is the only survivor of the two teams who founded the Ashes in 1998 when two mini bats were burnt in the Harris Gardens at Lord’s with the ashes encased in a wooden ball.

On Saturday she will be handed the trophy, the culmination of a reversal in fortunes after a disappointing World Cup campaign in the winter. It led to a change of management with Paul Shaw appointed head coach and assisted by former Leicestershire player Carl Crowe and Northamptonshire and England all-rounder David Capel.

The series started with a drawn Test and Australia appeared in control when they won the first one-day international at Lord's but since then England have turned around their form with four successive victories.

For the second time in two days England broke the record for the highest individual score with Greenway eclipsing Sarah Taylor’s 77 at Chelmsford. “It is probably my best innings,” said Greenway. “The Ashes were there to be won and we definitely did not want to leave it until Durham."

Meg Lanning’s 60 was the cornerstone of Australia’s innings which fizzled out in the final stages with three wickets falling in the last over.

It was not a demanding target for England but they looked nervous. In the third over, Taylor drove a catch straight back at Sarah Coyte, who two balls later bowled Daniella Wyatt with an inswinger.

Greenway should have been stumped on 10 by Fields and it was the stroke of luck England needed. Greenway’s laps and reverse sweeps were brilliantly precise and had the hallmarks of her hockey playing background.

She brought up her fifty with a sweep off middle stump and a stand of 40 off 27 balls with Natalie Sciver settled the match.

How the Ashes were won

Test England drew with Australia at Wormsley Eng 2pts Aus 2pts1st ODI Australia won by 27 runs at Lord’s Eng 0pts Aus 2pts2nd ODI England won by 51 runs at Hove Eng 2pts Aus 0pts3rd ODI England won by 5 wickets at Hove Eng 2pts Aus 0pts1st T20 England won by 15 runs at Chelmsford Eng 2pts Aus 0pts2nd T20 England won by 5 wickets at Southampton Eng 2pts Aus 0pts3RD T20 at Chester-le-Street on Saturday

TOTAL POINTS Eng 10 Aus 4

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Ashes 2013: when it rains, radio reigns supreme

Similarly, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven would have sounded a good deal less epoch-defining had Jimmy Page swapped his Fender Telecaster for a £5 Argos banjo.

Anybody can point a camera at a gripping sporting event and generate great entertainment. The real test of a broadcaster comes when the sport fails to capture the imagination, or indeed fails to materialise. Such a fate befell the fifth Test at the Oval on Saturday, which was rained off in its soggy entirety.

There is a certain absurdity in the idea that something as grand and important and lucrative as an Ashes Test can succumb to something as piffling and arbitrary as rain. In any case, nobody seems to have questioned why rain should stop play in the first place.

It is, after all, just rain; and not molten lava or flying nails or bubonic plague or any one of a thousand infinitely more hazardous airborne phenomena. Wet-weather cricket, like wet-weather motor racing, might turn out to be quite the spectacle. Still, tradition is tradition, and so the erection of the Centre Court roof at Wimbledon leaves cricket as the only major sport liable at short notice not to happen at all.

Naturally enough, this left the broadcasters with many hours to fill, a task they approached in different ways. Many people enjoy watching Sky Sports on mute and listening to Test Match Special on the radio. On Saturday afternoon, that meant watching Australia capitulate at Melbourne on Boxing Day 2010 while listening to round-the-world yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston recalling the time he saw some fishermen off Dunedin. Arresting, for sure, but a touch disorienting.

So it fell to us to make a choice. As accomplished and learned as Sky’s battery of former captains are, and as cute as they all look in their matching blue polo shirts, like trainee lifeguards on a team-bonding exercise, there is nothing quite like listening to Test Match Special during a rain break.

With no immediate prospect of play, TMS did us the great favour of getting all the cricket out of the way at the start. Ed Smith, Michael Vaughan, Damien Martyn and Phil Tufnell compiled a composite Ashes XI, before speculating on England's touring party for the return series.

Even in these capable hands, such exercises generally dissolve into mirage in a matter of minutes. What happens if Alastair Cook gets injured? Bring Nick Compton back? Move Jonathan Trott up? Ian Bell goes to three, Carberry four, Gary Ballance at five and a cardboard cut-out of Chris Woakes at six. What about Taylor?

Jonny Bairstow? Ravi Bopara? Did Mark Ealham actually retire, or did he leave it open to interpretation? And so on. Utterly pointless, but rather fun.

Before long, the stage belonged to Jonathan Agnew, whose quest to convert TMS into a form of light entertainment continues apace. After the interview with Sir Robin (repeated from the Old Trafford Test) came another with comedian Paul Merton. Agnew does these celebrity interviews enormously well; laughing at all the right moments, constantly on the cusp of awe.

There are those who regard Agnew as a genuine national treasure, an emblem of an idealised England, a sort of human cake. Any criticism of him is met with a scorn once reserved for traitors, blackguards and Germans: an act of heresy verging on the unpatriotic. Personally, I find him a touch haughty. Still, it seems I may be in a minority on this one.

For the reality is that TMS is Aggers, and Aggers is TMS, and for all their peculiarities you would scarcely wish it otherwise. When the cricket is on, there are few better places than Sky to enjoy it. But when the rain pours and the covers stubbornly refuse to shift, an afternoon in the crackling company of Test Match Special is an afternoon gloriously wasted.

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Ashes 2013: England's Kevin Pietersen heads the batting cast in a composite series XI featuring five Australians

It was the 2094th Test, and never before had the equation been 227 off 44 overs. It was fairly similar at Centurion in 2000 but then Hansie Cronje, South Africa’s captain, was fixed on not drawing the game.

So at the Oval theatre, the last act of this series had no script. The coaches could not tell their players anything of specific relevance from their experience. The players could not be programmed.

And such uncertainty on a late August evening, born of Michael Clarke’s daring declaration, riveted all concerned. At the end of an over when the PA announcer tried to tell the crowd about the ceremonies that would take place at the finish, such was the clapping, cheering and chanting that not one of his words was audible.

It was drama - and, better still, the drama of the first-night play, when none of the audience knows the outcome. Or rather, best of all, a play in which nobody - neither the audience nor the actors - knows what the outcome will be.

Kevin Pietersen did his best to script the finish. When he came in, England wanted 141 runs from the last 145 balls of the series, although there was always the likelihood that fading light would shave off a few overs.

Cometh the hour, cometh the showman. Pietersen feels good at the Oval: not only his breakthrough innings of 158 in 2005, but his first Test here as captain when he made a century against South Africa, and won. He not only averages more than 60 runs per innings here but, thanks to some pace in the pitch, four runs per over.

During his 55 balls, Pietersen could hardly have done more to recreate the magic of his innings eight years ago. But there was one difference between then and now. This Australian side have not been able to bat like their predecessors, or bowl Shane Warne, but their ground-fielding has been superlative.

In 2005 Pietersen was dropped more than once when the match was far from safe. On Sunday evening the first time he hit the ball towards a fielder, he was caught by David Warner at long-on.

Jonathan Trott had contributed 13 to their partnership of 77 and, being mortal, could not accelerate as his partner had. The next two Warwickshire players, Ian Bell and Chris Woakes, stayed on course to knock off the runs in 44 overs, but not in the 40 overs that approaching autumn allowed, before the script decreed the curtain should come down.

Before Pietersen, England’s captain Alastair Cook had found some fluency for the first time in this series. Even though he did not ‘go on’, once again, Cook did enough - in addition to his conscientious captaincy - to merit being one of the opening batsman in a composite eleven made up of these two sides.

Chris Rogers, though demoted on Sunday, would be Cook’s partner. Shane Watson was man of this match for his 176, and he can bowl better than Trott. Watson’s spell last evening was wicketless, as usual, yet invaluable.

Pietersen’s conversation with Michael Clarke, when they partner each other at four and five, would be worth turning up the stump-mike for. And when one of them runs the other out, there is always Bell to make another hundred.

Brad Haddin’s record feat, of making the most dismissals in any Test series, was overlooked in the closing ceremonies: no wonder wicketkeepers are used to being neglected. Haddin made his 29 catches off nine different bowlers, but most of them - nine - off Ryan Harris.

Harris, the bustling bull-dog with no bite, took 24 wickets in only four Tests. He and James Anderson would be a pace attack to avoid, backed by Stuart Broad who improved as the series went on, whereas Peter Siddle faded.

And who else but Graeme Swann, the leading wicket-taker with 26, to be the spinner? Didn’t he love being in control?

Composite XI: Cook, Rogers, Watson, Pietersen, Clarke (capt), Bell, Haddin, Broad, Swann, Harris and Anderson.

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Ashes 2013: England players say sorry for their post-match Oval party that went too far

The incident was witnessed by Australian journalists who were still working at the Oval while England players went into the middle to celebrate their 3-0 series victory.

The apology was issued in a statement on the England and Wales Cricket Board website and although it neither confirmed nor denied that players urinated on the pitch it apologised for any offence caused.

“The England cricket team would like to state that during our celebrations after winning the Ashes at no time was there any intention to disrespect Surrey CCC, the Oval or anyone else involved in the game we love,” the statement said.

“As a team we pride ourselves on respecting all things cricket including the opposition and the grounds we play at. We got carried away amongst the euphoria of winning such a prestigious series and accept that some of our behaviour was inappropriate.

“If that has caused any offence to anyone we apologise for that and want to reassure people that it was a simple error of judgment more than anything else.”

England’s apology was accepted by Surrey chief executive Richard Gould who had described the players’ behaviour as “irresponsible”. Gould also confirmed that no damage has been caused to the turf at the Oval.

England’s Twenty20 captain, Stuart Broad, declined to comment on the watery celebrations or the players’ apology when he attended a press conference in Southampton on Wednesday ahead of the first of two Twenty20 international matches against Australia on Thursday.

Broad was more forthcoming, however, on the lukewarm praise England had received for retaining the Ashes in some sections of the media.

“Praise from the media is not something the team is particularly concerned about,” he said. “At the end of the day the hard facts are that we won an Ashes series 3-0 and that was a tough fight and an emotional roller-coaster.

“Certain games could have been won and lost in half-an-hour spaces and it was fantastic cricket to watch. To have won that 3-0 and to have had an unbelievable chance of winning 4-0 and becoming the first England team to do that was a very special achievement and the guys in the changing room know that.

“Many of the fans know and believe that. The response from people we know and have seen has been fantastic. It’s part and parcel in an Ashes series that you get little things written about and talked about that get taken out of proportion but at the end of the day fans will certainly remember that we won that series 3-0 and played some fantastic and exciting cricket.”

Although England have two Twenty20 internationals and five one-dayers to come against Australia before the end of this season, Broad said thoughts have already turned to the prospect of completing a fourth successive Ashes series win this winter.

“The England changing room are just focused on England beating Australia. My whole childhood was taken up with England getting pumped by Australia so there’s just such a hunger in the dressing room to keep on ­beating Australia,” Broad said.

“Even since we won the Ashes on Sunday night there’s been talk between the guys of how much we want to work hard to win the next one and we can hit Australia hard in Brisbane.

“We know it will be a different game out there and we know how hard our home crowd have helped us here. So we’ve got to expect their crowd to help them there. Australia in their conditions will be hard to beat and we will have to play better than we’ve done here to beat them.”

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Ashes 2013: last day incidents must serve as a warning to England ahead of the next series in Australia

If England keep winning it will be quickly forgotten. But if they go to Australia and lose there are some who will point the finger and say they were arrogant when they won in England and urinating on the wicket was an example of them starting to lose discipline.

It is ridiculous but episodes like that put a team under pressure. They have dealt with it well all summer and I believe they will deal with it again.

The bigger issue for cricket is the mess over bad light. The ending was a complete farce.

It is time the International Cricket Council realised this bad light rule has to change. They were lucky it was not 1-1 or 2-2 with 26,000 people angry at the fact England had lost the chance to win the Ashes.

I can only imagine what could have happened in that situation. The ICC has to apply common sense to bad light decisions. Ask themselves how many times over the last 25 years someone has been hurt when the light has dipped?

The only thing that can be hurt is someone’s average and it is not up to the ICC to protect statistics. I do not think anyone is in danger physically these days with all the modern protection batsmen wear.

I agree the ICC had to take the decision out of the hands of the batting side because they used it to their own advantage at times.

The umpires have to make the call but when the lights are on they should stay on, particularly if the over-rate has been slow and forced play to continue into the evening.

As soon as you use lights at Test matches you have to accept they are part and parcel of match conditions, a bit like batting when it is cloudy and the ball starts swinging.

You might have to bat in a bit of dim light late at night but that is just bad luck.

I think the umpires were quietly trying to get away with it on Sunday.

They did not consult the light meters until it had gone way beyond the point when they knew they would have to go off.

You could see Michael Clarke pushing for them to get the meters out.

He is within his rights to do that. But we have got to look at the bigger picture.

It is an entertainment business. How do you explain to a young boy that the game has reached the last four overs but we cannot finish it off even though the lights are on?

The odd fielder has missed the ball but that sometimes happens in broad daylight. Cricket is competing with too many sports and other things in life.

We have to make sure we do everything we can to stay out on the pitch at all costs.

It was a very proactive declaration from Clarke. I do not think he ever really expected to take 10 wickets in 44 overs but he also thought England would not go for the runs and the crowd would turn on them.

But England came out with a positive intent and showed why they deserved to win the series 3-0. They again played better in a big moment than Australia.

Against an Australia team who have not won all year England knew they just had to hang in and wait for an opportunity, which arrived on the final afternoon.

England have the experience to win key moments but Australia are in a lot better shape than at the start of the series.

They have nailed down 10 of their 11 for the start of the next series in Brisbane. If England play in Australia the way they have in this series, for example the batsmen not passing 400 once, they will lose.

Sure England will regroup. You celebrate winning the Ashes but there comes a moment when you realise you have to move on to the next challenge.

And the next one is bigger than it was in 2010-11 because the Australians are better.

Losing Hugh Morris as managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board is a blow for England. He has done a tremendous job behind the scenes.

There are stories about Andy Flower going too. As a player, once you start thinking about retiring or moving on you lose around five per cent of your edge.

I don’t know what it is like for a coach but I like Flower when he has an edge. That is when he is at his best.

England behaving badly

Monty Panesar

England’s second-choice spinner was fined by police when he was caught urinating on nightclub bouncers after being thrown out of a club in Brighton earlier this month. He has since been sacked by Sussex and was overlooked for the fifth Ashes Test, with fellow slow left-armer Simon Kerrigan playing instead.

Andrew Flintoff

The all-rounder was stripped of the vice-captaincy and banned for a game after he capsized a pedalo and got into difficulties in the water in the early hours of the morning in St Lucia. He was one of six players fined by England for the incident, which occurred after they lost a World Cup match against New Zealand in March 2007.

Ian Botham

After admitting to smoking cannabis in a newspaper interview, Ian Botham was banned by England for two months in 1986, but within 12 balls of his return against New Zealand he had surpassed Dennis Lillee as the world’s leading Test wicket taker.

Matthew Hoggard

After England’s all-night session when they won the Ashes in 2005, Matthew Hoggard was not in the best of states when he arrived at a Downing Street reception the next day. “We left Downing Street and there were a lot of photographers,” Hoggard recalled. “He [Tony Blair] said: ‘What do they want?’ So I looked at him and said: ‘A photo, you knob!’?”

Mike Gatting

Before Andrew Strauss, Mike Gatting was the last England captain to win a series in Australia, but the following year, 1988, he was in hot water after two tabloids claimed he had enjoyed a “late-night romp” with barmaid Louise Shipman. He vigorously denied the claims, but said he had taken her to his hotel room for a drink. He was sacked as a result.

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England apologise for urinating on Oval pitch after celebrating Ashes series victory against Australia

Some of England's players are alleged to have urinated on the pitch hours after the series ended on Sunday night.

And in a statement released on the England and Wales Cricket Board's website, the team have now apologised if any of their actions may have caused offence.

"The England cricket team would like to state that during our celebrations after winning the Ashes at no time was there any intention to disrespect Surrey CCC, the Oval or anyone else involved in the game we love," the statement on read.

"As a team we pride ourselves on respecting all things cricket including the opposition and the grounds we play at. We got carried away amongst the euphoria of winning such a prestigious series and accept that some of our behaviour was inappropriate.

"If that has caused any offence to anyone we apologise for that and want to reassure people that it was a simple error of judgement more than anything else."

The allegations arose following eye-witness accounts from Australian journalists, who were still in the ground while England celebrated their 3-0 series win in the middle.

Reports have since indicated the ECB has launched an investigation into the matter after being contacted by Surrey chief executive Richard Gould.

Sports minister Hugh Robertson was even drawn into making a comment, telling the Daily Telegraph: "If it happened, it's not good behaviour."

Off-spinner Graeme Swann appeared to confirm the story when writing in Tuesday's Sun newspaper, but attempted to play it down.

"We did go out to the middle of the pitch, all the lads, drinking beers, singing a few songs and enjoying each other's company," he wrote.

"I think the call of nature might have come once or twice but it was nothing untoward.

"It was midnight, a private celebration in the middle of the pitch and the ground was dark."

The furore is the latest incident involving England and the Australians this summer to have cast a shadow over the tourists' visit.

In June, England opening batsman Joe Root was punched by Australian counterpart David Warner in the Walkabout bar in Birmingham, with the latter being suspended by the Baggy Green.

The Australia batsman made a public apology to Root and was sent to tour with Australia 'A' before returning to the fold for the third Test.

And earlier this month Sussex launched an investigation after England spinner Monty Panesar was given a fixed penalty notice for being "drunk and disorderly" following an incident at a Brighton nightclub.

The 31-year-old was ejected from the Shooshh club in Brighton, East Sussex and then urinated in public.

He had been part of the England squad that drew the third Test at Old Trafford to retain the urn, although he did not play, and has since left Sussex to join Essex on loan.

(Edited by Giles Mole)

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England fans should get refund after ODI team to face Australia has Ashes heroes missing, says Michael Vaughan

One-day captain Alastair Cook, batsman Ian Bell, off-spinner Graeme Swann and seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad will sit out the five-match series between Sept 6 and 16.

England’s decision to give a break to crucial players before they attempt to complete a fourth successive Ashes series win had been widely expected but it prompted former captain Vaughan, a Telegraph Sport columnist, to say on Twitter that spectators should be offered a partial refund.

“I would only have rested Captain Cook. Plenty of time to rest from Sept 16th-Nov 21st!!! Can’t sell tickets then rest 5 star names,” Vaughan said after England named a squad including players such as Jamie Overton, who is uncapped at any level.

“No problems resting players but I think supporters who have paid good money to watch the best should get a small refund.”

However, the series is still heading for a sell-out and the counties hosting the internationals – Yorkshire, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Glamorgan and Hampshire – will not offer refunds as team selection is not one of the conditions of purchase. Warwickshire confirmed last night that they had received no requests for refunds.

“Despite the rested players the England squad will be strong and have some exciting young players in it so I do not think it will undermine late sales or leave people feeling short-changed,” Warwickshire chief executive Colin Povey said.

Hampshire believe that the ­presence of local favourite Michael Carberry will help to ensure that the final one-dayer at the Ageas Bowl is a sell-out.

“We’re delighted, especially as Michael Carberry has been called up. Not only is it a great opportunity for Michael, and well deserved too, we expect it to have a positive effect on ticket sales as Hampshire fans get behind one of their own,” a Hamp­shire spokesman said.

The opening ODI at Headingley on Friday week is a sell-out and only a limited number of tickets are available for the matches at Old Trafford on Sept 8, Edgbaston on Sept 11 and Cardiff on Sept 14.

Sky Sports, who will televise the one-day series, declined to comment on England’s squad selection.

England ODI squad v Ireland: E Morgan (Middlesex, capt), G Ballance (Yorkshire), R Bopara (Essex), D Briggs (Hampshire), J Buttler (Somerset), M Carberry (Hampshire), S Finn (Middlesex), C Jordan (Sussex), J Overton (Somerset), B Rankin (Warwickshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), J Tredwell (Kent), L Wright (Sussex).

England ODI squad v Australia: E Morgan (Middlesex, capt), R Bopara (Essex), J Buttler (Somerset), M Carberry (Hampshire), S Finn (Middlesex), C Jordan (Sussex), J Overton (Somerset), K Pietersen (Surrey), B Rankin (Warwickshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Tredwell (Kent), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex).

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England's Ashes winners rested for one-day series against Australia as five uncapped players named in squad

Before his back problems, Jordan looked as if he might become the next Andrew Flintoff – his bowling being both quick and aggressive and his batting delightfully uncomplicated.

If that ambition has been tempered he certainly has it in him to be the next Tim Bresnan, if not a cricketer of his own design.

He qualifies for England through a grandmother and for West Indies through birth.

Indeed, West Indies had been interested in securing his services but perhaps forgot to make another approach once it became likely that his back problem would not compromise him.

Given the same choice back in the early 1970s, Gordon Greenidge chose (wisely as it happened) to play for West Indies and became one of the greats.

But if Jordan delivers on his early promise it will be a coup for England.

Jordan is one of 10 players in England’s one-day squad who represented England Lions against Bangladesh recently, registering two wins and a loss.

With the selectors deciding to rest Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad (though he will captain England’s T20 side this week), Graeme Swann and James Anderson after the Ashes, it always made sense to blood talented youngsters in the hope they might be fully formed by the next World Cup in 2015.

That learning process is why Kevin Pietersen has been retained and not rested alongside his Ashes team mates despite having a sore knee.

As he showed on the final day at the Kia Oval, few can match his batting versatility when the mood takes him and tyros such as Ben Stokes will assimilate a lot about one-day batting just by watching him and Eoin Morgan, England’s acting captain in Cook’s absence.

Pietersen is rested from the T20s and the squad to play Ireland, for which his place has been taken by Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance.

“Following a very intense period of cricket this summer we have decided to rest a number of senior players,” Geoff Miller, the national selector, said.

“This creates an excellent opportunity for players who have impressed in county cricket and for England Lions recently to test themselves at international level as we continue to build a squad ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup, which is less than 18 months away.”

After his surprise selection in the final Test, the absence of Chris Woakes from the one-day squad seems something of a puzzle, as does, given the experimental nature of the squad, the absence of Jonny Bairstow.

According to Miller, both have been given ample opportunity in England’s one-day sides before and the pair have been returned to their counties, Woakes to rediscover his swing and Bairstow to do some wicketkeeping.

“Players just don’t get given caps, they have to earn the opportunity through good performances with their counties,” Miller said.

“Once they have done that they will be considered for the next step, which is to introduce them to the international environment to see how they fare.”

One player eager to prove himself after a small taste of Test cricket three years ago is Michael Carberry.

Picked for a Test tour of Bangladesh, on the back of being an organised opening batsman, Carberry has revealed his inner animal for Hampshire this season to gain selection to both England’s T20 and one-day squads.

Like Jordan, he has endured a period out of the game, following complications from blood clots, but seems at the peak of his form now, ready to target Australia and the World Cup there in 18 months’ time.

England ODI squad v Ireland: E Morgan (Middlesex, capt), G Ballance (Yorkshire), R Bopara (Essex), D Briggs (Hampshire), J Buttler (Somerset), M Carberry (Hampshire), S Finn (Middlesex), C Jordan (Sussex), J Overton (Somerset), B Rankin (Warwickshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), J Tredwell (Kent), L Wright (Sussex).

England ODI squad v Australia: E Morgan (Middlesex, capt), R Bopara (Essex), J Buttler (Somerset), M Carberry (Hampshire), S Finn (Middlesex), C Jordan (Sussex), J Overton (Somerset), K Pietersen (Surrey), B Rankin (Warwickshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Tredwell (Kent), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex).

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