Please Play Giles and Jones, Says Smirking Warne

Shane Warne has added a typically mischievous dose of spice to the pre-Ashes cauldron by accusing the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, of having a "few favourites" and saying he would be "very happy" if England pick Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles for Thursday's first Test here instead of Chris Read and Monty Panesar.

While Jones's place in the side seems assured, there remains doubt over whether England will go for Giles's all-round steadiness or Panesar's potential match-winning abilities with the ball. But Warne sees the situation differently. "It will be a good sign for us if they play Jones and Giles," he said, "because that tells me they are just trying to strengthen the batting in their tail, when actually they're losing two of the finest arts in the game: keeping and spin bowling.

"Jones will be under enormous pressure. It's a known fact - it's not me sledging him or anything - that he is more of a batsman. His keeping is steady at best, and I certainly wouldn't want to be dropping Ricky Ponting when he's on half a dozen. In Australian conditions you need your best keeper because the ball does bounce and carry."

Warne also suggested that if Giles does play his first Test for a year, it will have as much to do with his close relationship with Fletcher as anything else. "Duncan Fletcher's definitely got a few favourites," he said. "That's well known to everybody. That's why some blokes keep coming back into the side.

"To me, Ashley Giles is a very, very good cricketer and a lovely guy, but I think they've got an exciting spinner in Panesar, as we saw this summer. It was great for the spin-bowling brotherhood for him to come out and take five-for and rag [Pakistan] like he did at Old Trafford and Headingley. Don't mess around with him, just let him play. You need 20 wickets to win a Test match so I'd be surprised and very happy if they go back to Jones and Giles."

Australia, meanwhile, have a selection headache of their own after the all-rounder Shane Watson gave his strained right hamstring a gentle test by running laps and doing some light sprint work for 45 minutes before bowling three overs in nets off a short run-up yesterday. The camp claim Watson is operating at 70%, but he left the session early for an MRI scan and there is every chance the No6 slot will go to Michael Clarke. "I think I can score a lot of runs against England," said Clarke. "Last time I was 15 months younger and I didn't know my game as well. I hadn't seen any of the English bowlers before either. I feel like my batting has improved out of sight."

Damien Martyn, who missed Western Australia's game against Queensland on Friday to rest an elbow problem, is not considered a major doubt.