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Ollie Rayner column
Eastbourne and Sussex all-rounder Ollie Rayner provides the latest instalment of his weekly column for Herald Sport.
"I found out this week that I'm in the squad for the game against Australia (which started on Wednesday).
The match is great for the club and the ECB have made a big thing of it. They want us to really give it a go.
It's Australia's first warm-up game for the Ashes and I don't think they are going to take it lightly.
You can never underestimate the Aussies as a team. They are still one of the best in the world at the moment.
They went out of the ICC World Twenty20 earlier than expected, and have lost the likes of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath but they have still got quality batsmen and bowlers, and are a great team.
Their key man has got to be Ricky Ponting. The guy is a run machine and possibly the best batsman in the world. Then there's Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee – the list goes on.
Having said that, this is as good a chance as England are going to get to win it. They have done fairly well of late against the West Indies and they didn't do too badly in the Twenty20 either.
(Steve) Harmison and (Michael) Vaughan would be an asset to any team but leaving them out shows we've got strong competition for places and that can only be good.
There's new management in the England camp so there were obviously going to be some changes but either of those two are capable of doing the job.
Harmison is one of the best bowlers in county cricket and Vaughan has scored loads of runs, especially against the Aussies.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the new lads get on – because the Aussies are a great team and it will be a pleasure to play against them."
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Weather for Eastbourne
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -6 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
