I THINK the squad picked for the Ashes tour sounds really good and I am pleased the selectors have given Michael Carberry another go.

I think Carberry is a good cricketer and he will do well in the longer form of the game. He must have impressed as a bloke as well as a player when he was with the England team recently.

I do think Nick Compton is a good cricketer but I am not sure how much he fitted in the dressing room when he was with England.

It seems like they really enjoyed Carberry in the dressing room by the sound of things and he is a really good talent, and England like the complete package, talent and personality.

Gary Ballance is another good pick. I have not seen much of him on the pitch but with the sheer weight of runs he has got in Division One of the County Championship this year he is a good selection.

Now we will just have to see whether he can churn out the runs on the international stage.

The squad shows that England like tall, quick bowlers with Broad, Finn, Rankin and Tremlett in there over Onions and Australian wickets are more suited to that type of back of a length fire it up bowling.

It is always tough going to Australia. The crowds are passionate and I think we have let the momentum shift a bit by not playing our full team in the one day internationals, so I think we have given the Aussies a bit of a sniff.

PERFORMANCE CALL IS REWARD FOR ESSEX TRIO

I AM so pleased for all three of them. I think Reece has been one of the best, if not the best, young bowlers on the county circuit this year.

I think Reece has got a lot about him. He has gone through the season and played in every format of the game and performed well.

He has picked up 48 wickets in the County Championship and I think if there is anyone who does deserve to go out with the Performance Squad then it is Reece.

Tymal has a lot of promise as well and I think he is going out there because of his potential rather than his current skill level.

He has not done brilliantly this year but he is still learning the game and he bowls that quickly that the England coaches want to keep looking at him over the next few years.

Tymal is not the end product yet, but another winter away being watched over by good coaches is really going to help him and his potential.

I am pleased for Ben too. It has been really hard for him this year after going out there with the squad last year.

He came back with people saying he was going to be the next best thing, but he is still on a learning curve and he struggled early on in the season.

He spent some time with the second team and when he came back into the first team he was in a better place, and to be able to deal with problems that quickly when you’re young is really good. I think this will be a big winter for him.

FRUSTRATION AT MISSING PROMOTION

IT WAS annoying being sat watching the weather take hold during the last two Championship matches.

We totally dominated both of them and we went out and played some of our best cricket of the season.

We definitely would have won both games if it had gone through the whole four days without raining and we would have been in front of Northamptonshire going into the last week of games.

But I always say you can win games of cricket and outplay the opposition, but you cannot beat the weather.

To be honest we should have got ourselves in a better position earlier on in the season.

We lost guys to the IPL and international games, so we had a slow start and this is what has killed our promotion chances ultimately.

WE'VE SHOWN GREAT PROMISE

I BELIEVE this year is the best we have played since 2008 when we won the Friends Provident Trophy against Kent at Lords.

It seems a bit strange to say this seeing as we have not won any trophies this year, but it has been one of our best seasons.

We have been more consistent as a side, we have a big age range of players performing well and I think next year will be a big year for us.

If we start better in 2014 than we did this year then it will be a good one for us.

I think we have been a bit unlucky as well.

We have only won five tosses in all formats and the weather has not helped us out either.

But we have played really good cricket and I think it is very, very promising.

FULL COLUMN IN WEDNESDAY'S ECHO