Australia name squad for West Indies tour and Ashes; leg spinner Fawad Ahmed given nod

Fawad Ahmed of Victoria walks off holding the ball up high after taking eight wickets during day two of the Sheffield Shield final match on March 22

Australia have named their Test squad for the tours of West Indies and England, a period of continuous cricket for the ODI world champions, starting with the Caribbean series on 5^th June.

16 players have been named for the West Indies tour, with expectant father Ryan Harris set to join the squad in England for the Ashes as the 17th member.

Australia will be looking to break a long and painful drought in July, a period of ignominy on English soil that dates back to 2001 – but will be taking heart from the disparate form of the two traditional rivals.

Best Australian spinner since Warne: Martyn

Leg spin has returned to the Australian Test side, in the form of Pakistan-born asylum seeker Fawad Ahmed, the 33-year-old who plays for Victoria and who only gained his Australian citizenship two years ago.

Ahmed played a handful of first-class games in Pakistan before he was threatened by extremists while working for an NGO which fought to protect women’s rights. He subsequently fled the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Australian shores in 2010, and has been plying his trade in Australia since.

Australia have been without a quality leg spinner since the days of Shane Warne and Stuart Macgill. Macgill himself has likened Ahmed to Indian great Anil Kumble, only with more turn, and Damien Martyn has called him the best Australian spinner since Warne.

Adam Voges has been rewarded for an outstanding season with Western Australia, in which he topped the overall run-scorer’s list by a country mile with 1,358 runs at an average of more than 100.

Michael Clarke, the recently retired ODI captain, will lead the Australia side, while Steve Smith will serve as his deputy. Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner, World Cup heroes, have been overlooked.

The Squad: Michael Clarke (c), Steve Smith (vc), Fawad Ahmed, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Peter Nevill, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Ryan Harris (Ashes only)