A little bit of this and a little bit of that were my thoughts when I saw Australia's squad for the World Cup. The squad suggested to me that the Australian selectors were taking an each way bet and at this stage were not sure of the final eleven they would pick for the tough rounds of the World Cup.
While they have fiddled around with their selection of the one-day team in the last 12 months, notably the dropping of the two Waughs, it looks to me that they are no further down the track in deciding their best team.
Their problems were further complicated by the injury to Shane Warne and the serious doubts about whether he will be fit in time.
They have also exposed their desperation to find an all rounder in the inclusion of bits and pieces players, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg and Shane Watson.
All of these lads are good cricketers who can bat and bowl, but do not have the class to be in the team for one skill alone.
I had hoped we had gone past our flirtation with a series of average all rounders, but it is obvious the Australian selectors are still undecided as to which way they should go.
It is very comforting to have a classy all rounder in the team, but very dangerous if the chosen person hasn't the ability to hold a spot on one skill alone and then his other talents become the bonus for the team.
In this regard, I have been surprised that more attention hasn't been given to developing the bowling skills of Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann.
When given the opportunity, Darren Lehmann has shown he is a thoughtful, clever left hand spinner.
He may not be out of the classical mould, but he is very accurate, has good control of flight and pace and is very tough under pressure. I first identified Martyn and Ponting as potential bowlers almost a decade ago. What struck me then was the accuracy of their right hand medium pacers and their ability to swing the ball away - a rare commodity then and just as scarce today.
They adapted quickly to new ideas and both have good deceptive slower balls.
The pitches will not be as flat and easy to score runs on as in the last two World Cups in India-Pakistan and England. In South Africa batsmen will be vital.
All rounders who don't have the batting techniques to handle the seaming and swinging ball will find it tough.
You don't have to look any further for proof of this than the current series in New Zealand, where so many of the batsmen have been found wanting in the seaming conditions.
South African conditions won't be as tough as this, but they do seem to have the reputation of being "greened" up when it might be to the advantage of the local team!
In the selected squad I can only identify nine players who look certain for the final eleven and this includes Shane Warne.
They are Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Damien Martyn and Glen McGrath.
That leaves two vital spots to fill, obviously you need a extra pace bowler and that lies between the sheer pace of Brett Lee and the zip and swing of Andy Bichel. Lee has improved of late after a very slow start to the season, while Bichel, with fewer opportunities has seldom let his country down.
If the conditions are overcast and the wickets have a tinge of green, Bichel would get my vote.
If Shane Warne is OK I think he and Darren Lehmann will fill the spinning spots nicely and thus opportunities for Brad Hogg will be limited.
This then leaves us to select one more player, should it be a batsman or a bowler.
Sticking to my theory of only using all rounders to fill positions if they are good enough to win a spot on one skill alone I would, at this stage have to overlook the three all rounders.
This thus leaves a clear choice between a batsman, Jimmy Maher and bowler Brett Lee.
Once again in my view the teams philosophy will be the deciding factor.
In my team I already have six batsmen including Adam Gilchrist and four top line bowlers McGrath, Gillespie, Bichel and Warne.
My major concern about this is that the inclusion of another bowler, Brett Lee would mean that Shane Warne would bat at number 7, and that is just too high.
Some would argue that some of the other bowlers are capable of getting runs. Unfortunately under the strain of World Cup cricket there is a big difference between capable and actually doing it.
For my mind I would go for the extra batsman, Jimmy Maher.
Already I can hear the Doubting Thomas' saying, we haven't got enough bowlers.
In a perfect world and without the flexibility of the rules of baseball you haven't the opportunity of a case scenario to cover everything and making match changes of players. That being the case with the eleven I have suggested, the extra ten overs would have to be bowled by Martyn, Ponting and Lehmann. Personally I think they can do it, but only if they practice hard and given the opportunity of bowling in competitive games.
Perhaps I am having a bit each way also. But isn't selecting teams easier when you are not an official selector?
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