Michaels On The Money / Michael Vaughan / 14 December 2010 /

There's all sorts of players being dropped, recalls and shock selections in the Australian camp but for England it's a simple three-way shoot-out to replace Stuart Broad. And it could well the outsider of the three who gets the chance to impress.

I'm not quite sure what the Australian Selectors are thinking right now. Xavier Doherty has pretty much been dumped for good, Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus were dropped only to then be recalled and now this Michael Beer guy is seen as having all the answers to Australia's problems. Somewhere in between all that, Steve Smith has been drafted in as an all-rounder and Nathan Hauritz looks to have joined Simon Katich and Marcus North in having played his last game for Australia.

It's one thing being overlooked and saying you're disappointed with the decision but Hauritz's reaction to it has been quite incredible. To organise a garage sale, offload all his cricket gear and say he "doesn't play for them anymore" strikes me as quite petty and immature, frankly. Talk about burning your bridges.

For what it's worth, I thought Hauritz would have been the obvious choice to come in for Doherty. He's pretty experienced at this level and would add balance to the side batting at number eight. As for Michael Beer, he's played just six first-class matches so to throw him into the cauldron of an Ashes Series and expect him to perform from the word 'go' is asking a lot of the fellow. I think it says a thing or two about the whole situation when the player himself has questioned whether he's quite ready for Test cricket!

There are no such problems in the England camp. With Stuart Broad out for the rest of the series, as exclusively revealed on my column here on betting.betfair, there are three fine players involved in an extremely healthy tussle to step in for him. People will talk about giving balance to the side and what not but given how well England's batsmen have played so far, the only question the Selectors will be asking is: who will take the most wickets?

If it looks like the ball could swing, Ajmal Shazhad would be favourite to get the nod and if the wicket looks a particularly bouncy one then Chris Tremlett will probably play. But I have a feeling it will be Tim Bresnan who's about to be selected. He's been involved with both the T20 side and the ODI side for a while now and has been in plenty of high-pressure situations. I just have a gut instinct that could make all the difference. Let's see if I'm right!

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