They are the 16 England players charged with winning the Ashes for the first time in Australia since 1986/87.

But have the selectors made the right choice?

Can England hope to retain the urn with a batting line-up featuring Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood - who averaged 23.85, 23.33 and 19.83 respectively in this summer's Tests against Pakistan?

Sealed with a kiss: a jubilant Swann and Cook celebrate Ashes success in 2009

Does a tally of 48 Championship wickets at 20.18 make Chris Tremlett's inclusion a necessity? And how unlucky can Adil Rashid and James Tredwell consider themselves to miss out on the second spinner spot to Monty Panesar?

To answer these questions and get their thoughts on the squad as a whole, skysports.com convened a special sitting of the Ashes panel...

Nasser Hussain

This squad has got as good a chance of winning the Ashes in Australia as any England have put together in two decades. Graeme Swann is the trump card. On previous tours spin has only had a containing role when the Kookaburra ball has gone soft but with Swann on song England will believe they can get 20 Australian wickets.

The attack is well-balanced although it would have been nice to see Ajmal Shahzad in there because he reminds me a little of Simon Jones - raw, fast and able to reverse it both ways. But the selectors feel he isn't quite ready and went for Bresnan, which is a good sign because it suggests they might play the extra bowler at some stage.

Kevin Pietersen needs to be at his best to win the Ashes simply because you need to score 450-500 in the first innings to win in Australia and the sort of players who are going to get you up to those big scores are the Pietersen's of this world. He was the one batsman who stood out from the rest in 2006/07. Yes, he's had a dip in form but I think he's also had a bit of a kick up the backside. He admitted that he had taken his eye off the ball after the World Twenty20; I think Andy Flower has made sure he's focused by leaving him out of the NatWest Series.

Ravi Bopara's exclusion from both squads is an odd one. Andy Flower is a very clever guy and maybe he sees something in Bopara either mentally or technically that he thinks he can solve playing first-class cricket in South Africa. I would be very surprised if Bopara's international career is over.

Sir Ian Botham

There's no real surprises. Tremlett coming back in makes sense because he's bowled well for Surrey. He's tall, he's got good pace and he gets bounce - those are the kind of bowlers you need, particularly with the Kookaburra cricket ball.

It makes sense to take Panesar. England aren't going to play two spinners, I can't see them doing that in the series, but there could be a situation where Graeme Swann does a hamstring or something in the warm-ups - so we've got someone with a lot of experience who can step in. I think that's their thinking.

It was a tough selection between Shahzad and Bresnan, but it's nice that England are in this situation where they can pick and choose. It's not as if these guys won't be there anyway, they'll be out there on the performance tour, so they have a chance to shine as well. If injuries occur they'll be there and acclimatised, so it makes a lot of sense.

It will be tough because it's the Australians in their back yard. The environment will be hostile on and off the field, but that's the Australian way. With the way these guys have conducted themselves over the last couple of months - and the captain in particular, who has shown great dignity in very difficult times - I think they're ready for it. Australia have lost a lot of big, big players and are not the side we've seen over the last 15-20 years, far from it. They're rebuilding and I believe England are strong enough and good enough to win it - and to win it by a couple of Tests.

Bob Willis

I like the balance of this squad - it looks pretty good to me and I don't think England could have put one together that was much better. A lot will hinge on how Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook perform at the top of the order. Cook had a disappointing time in Aussie last time out but the selectors clearly feel he can do the job and good luck to him.

There were never going to be too many surprise selections and so it's proved. This will be a great opportunity for Chris Tremlett to get stuck in if he gets the opportunity. He's enjoyed a good season at Surrey - the change of scene seems to have done him some good - although it is important to remember that his wickets are second division wickets. It is going to be a hard graft for anybody who bowls in Australia - be it seam up or spin - and Tremlett and Steven Finn for that matter need to make sure they deliver when it counts.

Monty Panesar is clearly the second best spinner in the country for my money; if England need to play two spinners at either Adelaide or Sydney then he is clearly the right man for the job. Don't forget that his batting did help to save the first Test at Cardiff in 2009 - but of the whole squad you'd have to say he is the only player who is likely not to contribute with the bat.

Michael Atherton

The Ashes is always a mouth-watering prospect and the way the England team have played recently with those six consecutive series victories makes everyone think they are in a pretty good place right now. They are well-led by Andrew Strauss and they have several match-winners in their ranks, which means they have a great chance of retaining the urn. In fact they probably haven't had a better chance to do so since 1987.

There was never going to be much controversy over the selection - most people would have come up with the same 13 or 14 names straight away, which shows how good a place England are in.

Australia are a good Test side but they are only OK by their own standards; they've got three 35-year-olds in their top six, their bowling doesn't look more potent than England's and England hold the Ashes which is like having an away goal in football terms.

That said, Australian sides do have a remarkable innate competitiveness. The old adage is that England teams have to be 20 percent better in Australia to win in Australia.

Why is that? Conditions are foreign and you've got pitches that tend to be a bit harder and bouncier than those in England - plus they use the Kookaburra rather than the Dukes ball, which goes softer quicker and the seam goes flatter too so there's not as much movement for the bowlers.

Conditions can be pretty harsh too. The temperature can get to 40 degrees in Perth and Adelaide plus it is a pretty hostile environment in the grounds, so you have to be tough to do well over there.

David Gower

There have to be concerns about Pietersen going into the Ashes because he's had a very poor summer. For all his talent, he needs confidence to make it work. Some people call it ego but the nice word is confidence.

Every player, no matter how good he is, needs to believe in what he is doing to make him a very, very good player or even an extra special player. That confidence has always been there with Kevin Pietersen, pretty much until this summer.

Ever since South Africa where he was down in confidence because of his injury Pietersen has struggled and this summer he admitted that his confidence is shot. He has to get that back if he is going to be as good as he has been before.

England will want him firing, the Australians will hope that he is still lacking runs when he's down there but he's still a shoe-in for me. He's got games in South Africa now (with the Natal Dolphins) and those first few warm-up games in Australia when they first get there; if he strikes form in that period it bodes well for England in the Ashes.

If for any reason he is still struggling then, I'm pretty sure they will take the risk and hope that it clicks into place in the first Test match.

David Lloyd

It's a good squad; is it good enough? We'll see. I like Tremlett's inclusion - I think that's cracking. He's what you need in Australia - a tall bowler who hits the pitch hard and England have plenty of those now.

Monty's a lovely lad and a proven Test match bowler. I just hope he's a lot stronger than he was last time. He'll go as second spinner and I just wonder if England have something up their sleeve at Adelaide and Sydney. I would have had Rashid in there instead but I don't think Monty's a bad selection.

Apart from maybe Shahzad for Bresnan there's no-one out there who will be demanding to know why they haven't been included. There's a young kid called James Hildreth, who has scored seven centuries down at Somerset and is a very good player, who had a chance but England's batting line-up is very, very settled - that's very important for Geoff Miller and the excellent Andy Flower.

It's a great idea that they've got three or four warm-up matches before the first Test. They should have plenty of time to acclimatise. They've got to use them to get Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood into some sort of nick. Both of those players will be in England's first Test line-up and they will want them to have played cricket and have scored runs.

You cross your fingers and hope Pietersen's hard work pays off. Beefy wrote a book a while ago and its message still rings true today - form sometimes clicks. Pietersen against Australia is absolute box office and he will be raring to go.

Don't forget that you can see the Ashes live on Sky Sports from November 25 when the first Test starts in Brisbane.

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