Australia / James Masters / 10 December 2010 /

As the Australian selectors go in search of a hero to turn around their Ashes fortunes, they've come up with a few unlikely candidates. None of whom are likely to give England sleepless nights....

Come to Australia and you'll notice their love of the 'No Worries' lifestyle, barbecues on the beach and their constant thirst for a nice cold one.

Ricky Ponting has probably downed a few pints over the past week following his side's Adelaide horror show but not even the strongest brew will wipe away the memories of England's triumph.

Australians tend to think they can fix everything with a beer but this latest move gives the impression that the selectors are still staggering around in the dark. At the age of 26, Michael Beer has played just five first-class matches and was smashed around the park by England in their opening warm-up game in Perth.

The 10th spinner to take on the mantle since the great Shane Warne retired, Beer is no more than an average second division bowler who has been thrust into the limelight due to Australia's pitiful resources. According to Warne, Beer is the perfect man to take over from the amateurish-looking Xavier Doherty, especially as the rookie plays his club cricket at the WACA for Western Australia.

To give you an indication of just how left-field this move is, try thinking about Michael Ricketts or Kevin Davies playing up front for England or the infamous Darren Pattinson being handed a Test debut against South Africa in 2008. It's a shocker.
The Aussies don't have a clue and this latest selection just shows the fear and desperation which is beginning to plague the 'Saggy Greens'.

The panic is almost laughable and the constant speculation of Warne returning to the Test side four years after his retirement is a sad indictment of the state of Australian cricket. While the inexperienced Beer has been drafted in to provide spin, Doug Bollinger, Marcus North and Doherty have all been dropped while Simon Katich is unavailable through injury.

That means Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus return to the squad - despite being dropped and heavily criticised following their show of impotence during the opening game at the Gabba. Johnson was simply woeful and Australia are taking a huge gamble in selecting a bowler low on confidence and so out of form that an unfit and one-paced Bollinger was picked ahead of him for Adelaide.

In the batting department, Australia have once again turned to the diminutive Phil Hughes in the absence of Katich, who has been ruled out of the series with an Achilles problem.

Hughes, once tipped to be the next big thing when he made his Test debut against South Africa in 2009, was unceremoniously dropped from the last Ashes series in England after just two matches. Out for 4 and 0 against South Australia in his latest outing, the New South Wales man has yet to reach 50 in state cricket this year.

Hughes' inclusion once again shows the lack of strength in depth and will not worry an England side brimming with confidence following their crushing win in Adelaide.

Youngster Steve Smith will at least give Australia a bit more power in the middle order following the demotion of the hapless North but this is not a team who should be troubling England.

Back England to get a first innings lead at [1.83] and lay Phil Hughes to score a 50 when the market matures over the next few days.

If England don't bring it home this time, they probably never will.

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