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Ashes 2019: Allan Border picks his playing XI for the first Ashes Test
Former Australian legend Allan Border has picked his playing XI for the upcoming Ashes series against the newly crowned World Champions. Tap to find out
Former Australian cricketer Allan Border has picked his playing XI for the upcoming Ashes series against the newly crowned World Champions starting August 1 at Birmingham. His team is filled with lots of left-handers in the top 6. He also feels that the Australians will have to go with their best possible XI to pose a threat to the Englishmen especially in their own backyard.
He has gone with David Warner, Marcus Harris and Usman Khawaja in the top three. He said, "The top three batsmen are left-handers which is not necessarily the wrong thing. A lot of people jump up and down about picking too many left-handers but if they are your best players then go with them. If they were right-handers, no one would say anything."
The former skipper also wanted the Australian selectors to give Matthew Wade a go considering his success in the recent domestic competition held in Australia. "I'd be tempted to go with Wade. You talk about picking the guys in form, and he's in great form. Labuschagne might get that guernseys in that he can bowl some pretty handy leg spin and he's good in the field too. Wade can bowl some medium pace. He can get it through alright, you could sling him half a dozen overs if you had to here and there. I wouldn't go with the all-rounder at number six. I'd pick a straight out and out batsmen. England's conditions are a bit softer underfoot and temperature wise. There's not as much physically and stress on the bowlers."
Allan Border's Ashes Playing XI: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade/ Marnus Labuschagne, Tim Paine (c,wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.
