Symonds and Voges shoot into Test squad

On a day of shocks for Australian cricket the selectors produced two more by picking Andrew Symonds and Adam Voges, a Western Australia batsman, in the 13-man squad for the third Test starting on Thursday. Damien Martyn began the rash of surprises by retiring and the decision was followed by Cricket Australia insisting he was part of the original outfit for Perth.

While a "flabbergasted" Symonds was an outsider, Voges was not even on the radar until Martyn walked away. Voges, a hard-hitting 27-year-old, was chosen ahead of the injured Brad Hodge and Phil Jaques, Chris Rogers and Marcus North. He did not know the news until tapped on the shoulder during the game against the England XI at Lilac Hill. Told to leave the field, he thought he was in trouble until he took the call from Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's operations manager.

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Interesting choice by the selectors. I thought Jacques but the selectors obviously still see him as an opener and an opener only. I don't know much about Voges so I've decided to take a look at some statistics. Voges has scored two Pura Cup centuries this season, with a high score of 152 and has 320 runs at 53.06. Statistics don't tell the whole story but it looks as though he is quite handy with the bat.