The evidence is in, time to sift through Ashes to find a squad So we must act before John Inverarity and his fellow selectors are again fooled by the lumberjack swings of one-dimensional sloggers on flat tracks. The ignominious tour of India has drawn to an appropriately calamitous conclusion. The Sheffield Shield - the anachronistic bugbear that complicates the scheduling of Big Bash League games and occupies grounds that could be used for football training - has ended. So there it is. The last meaningful evidence upon which Australia's squad for the Ashes tour should be selected. If you consider the addled performances of the bamboozled tourists in India meaningful. Let alone the averages of first-class players compiled during a dizzying season in which confused batsman wobbled to the crease wearing one white pad and one coloured. In the four months before the first Test at Trent Bridge, supposedly exhausted players will spend six weeks lining their pockets in the frenetic Indian Premier League. Then on to the Champions Trophy, yet more limited-overs cricket providing a routinely discordant lead-in to the Ashes series. Before they are convinced by the postman to pick yet another bits-and-pieces "all-rounder" who has no more legitimate claim to a Test berth than he has to rule Liechtenstein. We must pick the Ashes squad now. But before we name names, there are a few quaint conventions upon which we will rely. We will - don't laugh - pick a team comprised of the six best batsmen (admittedly, it's like choosing the best six surfers in Alice Springs), a wicketkeeper-batsmen and the best four bowlers. Also, we will remember that in Test terms, an all-rounder is either one of the best six batsmen who can also bowl, or one of the best four bowlers who can also bat. A Jacques Kallis, a Keith Miller, an Ian Botham. Or no all-rounder at all. Which means, given he no longer bowls, has batted himself out of the team and - in words and deeds - relinquished his right to the vice-captaincy, Shane Watson will have more time to spend with his new baby this winter. It's a win-win. We will then choose players capable of covering the first XI in the event of injury or poor form. Or, in the case of the batting line-up, of challenging for a berth in the two tour games preceding the first Test. Opener Ed Cowan's admirable temperament saves him after a tour of India in which - depending on your outlook - he made several starts, or failed to exploit them. David Warner's ability to win a match in a session means we persevere - as much as Jimmy Anderson must be licking his lips at the thought of his crossed bat on a green track. Veteran opener Chris Rogers can consider himself on standby at Middlesex. Phil Hughes enhanced his reputation by fighting back in India and has made runs in England. Michael Clarke bats at four. Now we put names on a dartboard. I hit George Bailey, Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh, who fight it out for five and six. Bailey's leadership, and the suspicion he can rise to the occasion, means he gets the nod. As does Marsh's shamefully unexploited talent. Smith surprised in India, but is dodgy against swing. And he must promise to never, ever "bowl." Usman Khawaja misses out. Not because he doesn't deserve a chance, but because if the selectors have not given him a game in a batting line-up with more vacancies than a beachside caravan park in mid-July, I assume they never will. Wicketkeepers Matthew Wade and Tim Paine both travel in a 17-man party. Two good options, so long as neither is promoted to No.6, thus turning an Adam Gilchrist-style strength into a weakness. The attack is much easier. The first-Test line-up is Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon and Jackson Bird - whose metronomic style is a must given he can take wickets and stem the flow of runs. Essential for those who fear the joy Kevin Pietersen might give the Barmy Army if again confronted by Mitchell Johnson (who will also enjoy more time with his family). Mitchell Starc and Ryan Harris are part of the rotation and Pat Cummins will get his chance when England travel here. Stephen O'Keefe bowls a lot in the nets, practises golf and only plays if Lyon's excellent final Test in India proves a false dawn. Tasmanian James Faulkner is the sole all-rounder - as a last-ditch option, not the lottery ticket that Glenn Maxwell and Moises Henriques were in India. Not a great squad - especially the batting - but I'd still give it some chance against the might of New Zealand. My Ashes squad: Cowan, Warner, Hughes, Clarke, Bailey, Smith, Wade, Siddle, Pattinson, Lyon, Bird, Marsh, Paine, Harris, Starc, O'Keefe, Faulkner.