England squad for Ashes 2013-14 in Australia needs fast bowlers to create the right aura Rankin has run up the rankings of England's pace bowlers during the one-day series against Australia. Given the flak flying around - every other England bowler was at least as half as expensive again - Rankin stood out for the control he brought to bear from his height of 6" 7." He has not been impregnable in the past, having had so many injuries, but he looks it now. Rankin might have risen so far as to be England's first choice for third seamer behind James Anderson and Broad. Tim Bresnan, if his rehabilitation from the stress fracture in his back is completed by the first Test, would be favoured for Brisbane because of the swing that can be found in the humidity, and because of the comfort blanket that is his batting. But on the first ever drop-in pitch at Adelaide, uneven bounce is possible, and nobody can exploit that like the tall fast bowler: so too the carry to be had in Perth. Rankin shapes the ball into the right-hander if anything, while Tremlett shapes it away. But Rankin may be bowling more like the Tremlett of three years ago in Australia than Tremlett is now. England's selectors are free to choose 16 or 17 players: if Bresnan is fit enough to be in the squad, and there is a 17th, it could be Tremlett. Injuries will happen, unavoidably, but England last time maintained their image of invincibility. As soon as Broad was ruled out of the second Test and the series, Tremlett, Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad took to the middle in Adelaide for a bowl-out: Broad's replacement, they proclaimed, was going to be even better and stronger. Assuming Jonny Bairstow doubles up as the reserve wicketkeeper, that leaves three more spaces: for a reserve spinner, a reserve batsman, and one other. No substitute for Swann is in sight except Monty Panesar, after the mauling handed out to James Tredwell, when Australia's one-day batsmen used their feet and took him apart. But for Joe Root's gameness in filling in - overeagerness as it turned out - Tredwell would have gone for more than seven and a half an over. England's spinner in Australia cannot be expected to run through the opposition. The Sydney Cricket Ground is not what it was: Australia's off-spinner Nathan Lyon has taken three expensive wickets in his two Tests there. Adelaide is not what it was either, the one venue where Swann took wickets last time (overall he had 15 wickets at 39.8). What Cook will need is control, a spinner who can tie batsmen down until the three seamers have got the ageing ball to reverse-swing; and Panesar is actually more economical than Swann in terms of runs conceded per over - 2.75 to 2.93. The reserve batsman may not be Michael Carberry but it should be. For a start, he could bat anywhere in the order, unlike Eoin Morgan, Gary Ballance or James Taylor. But more than that, he showed in the one-day series that he could live with Mitchell Johnson, Australia's form bowler, which was more than Jonathan Trott or Kevin Pietersen did. Carberry may have an advantage in facing Johnson in being left-handed, especially when dealing with the bouncer. He left the ball calmly, and when the bouncer came along and he ducked it, he kept his eyes on the ball, or even hooked it downwards, as at Cardiff. During the Ashes series Cook's scoring rate dropped from 47.5 runs per balls to 36.3, or barely more than two runs per over: so restricted was he by the fullish length outside offstump that Australia's seamers bowled, and by the responsibilities of captaincy. If Root fails, or is injured, or Trott is further exposed by the bouncer, England need a batsman who can counterpunch while Cook takes his time: and although Nick Compton, who is 30, may well have more of a Test future than Carberry, who turns 33 later this month, he is a defender and accumulator, not a counter-puncher. England's cricketers in Australia have to be in their prime and on top of their game to create this impression of impregnability. But there is still a place for youth, or at least one 22-year-old youth who is going to be so influential in England's future as Ben Stokes. In an emergency Stokes could bat at number six almost as well as Chris Woakes when he was suddenly slotted in for the Oval Test. He has the lateral movement and pace to turn into a third seamer, whereas Woakes is a fourth; his throwing arm is strong enough even for Australian outfields, which is what you need from a sub; and he will be more equipped to be a match-winner on the next Ashes tour if he learns the lie of the land, as opposed to that of the bars, which led him to be sent home from the Lions tour last winter. Other reserves will be on hand in the performance squad which is touring Australia simultaneously, like Graham Onions who is Anderson's nearest to like replacement. But the key factor in the return series should be the giants who walk the big brown land. Scyld Berry's Ashes squad: Cook (capt), Root, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Bairstow, Prior, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Rankin, Finn, Carberry, Panesar and Stokes (plus Tremlett if 17).