Not liking this team selection at all, they've bottled it I think, panicked and tried not to be predictable.
Ballance should be playing, England's batting line up is extremely weak at the moment, Stokes is a poor choice to strengthen it, and bowling wise I certainly won't be expecting much. With Panesar too this is an extremely weak batting side.
Panesar is an extremely poor selection too, based on his record this year, his record in this part of the world, and his personal troubles, its a poor selection in my view. The only reason he's even in the squad is Kerrigan's woeful performance at the Oval. Regardless of which given we're bowling first anyway he's only likely to end up with a bit part bowling role.
Root at 3 is another terrible decision, he was a rabbit in headlights opening and was painfully slow at scoring. Considering the way our openers have been playing, playing 3 for England is essentially playing as an opener. Bell should have been moved up and Root retained in the middle order.
Expecting this to be 2-0 Aussies based on this, hope i'll be surprised but certainly not expecting it. I doubt we'll be seeing an improvement on our batting troubles with this line up anyway.