i think you guys are over-complicating matters: Langer is a must... as is Ponting... and (looking to the future) as is Clarke. Of the rest... Hussey and Hodge are surely the most deserving. That leaves 2/7... and one of those has to be some sort of all-rounder - and for most of you that means Gilchrist even if many of us who watched him in England this summer reckon he's been found out as a player for sporting conditions.

That means the entire debate boils down to "who gets the other spot". Those of you obsessed with flat track bullying are always going to go for Hayden... but the sad truth remains that those of us who ain't into flat track bullying ain't clear as top who's the better bet. Dragging Steve Waugh out of retirement sounds the best bet... but what's really needed is another player in his mould: not someone who can score centuries on pitches where every tom, dick and harry can score centuries... but someone who'll be there at the end of the session in which all the others screw up.

Right now... Australia would be better served by a number 4 who, like Nasser Hussain, never managed a spectacular average but generally delivered when it mattered. Someone who plays the line of off stump with bat against pad and grinds out over after over without even worrying about middling the ball.

Sadly... no-one seems to break into 1st class cricket in Australia by playing that game... and I really do think that leaves the coach up a creek without a paddle. Until someone works out some better answer that suggest Hayden might as well get the spot: he showed a bit of application in the final Test of the Ashes.... and as yet... no-one else shows any greater promise.

of course... the obvious answer is to just play the strongest 6 batsmen and be content with a dodgy batting lineup that allos you a 5 man attack in which anyone having an off day has somewhere to hide.....