England Ballance Ashes Squad

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England have given Yorkshire batsman Gary Ballance a surprise call-up to their Ashes squad to tour Australia this winter.

The 23-year-old left-hander, who was born in Zimbabwe, is uncapped at Test level and has only played a single one-day international for England.

Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes and ex-Ireland pace bowler Boyd Rankin, who are yet to play a Test, also make the squad, as do left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, top-order batsman Michael Carberry and seamer Chris Tremlett.

However, seamers Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions miss out on the 17-man squad, as do spinner James Tredwell and opener Nick Compton.

Bresnan is currently sidelined with a stress fracture in his back and national selector Geoff Miller said: "He will travel to Australia with the squad to maximise his rehab opportunities with the medical team and coaches who will monitor his progress."

The Ashes series down under begins in Brisbane on 21 November, with the fifth and final Test starting in Sydney on 2 January.

The inclusion of Rankin, 29, and Stokes, 22, could have been anticipated as, despite their lack of experience at Test level, they both impressed for England in the recent ODI series defeat by Australia.

The height of Rankin and Tremlett also appears to have worked in their favour, with the pitches in Australia expected to offer bounce.

Panesar gets the nod ahead of Tredwell as reserve spinner behind first-choice Graeme Swann.

But Ballance has played only one ODI, which came against Ireland in September in which he was dismissed for a duck.

However, he averages 52.17 after 64 first-class matches and Miller said: "There are no left-field selections.

"He's played very well for Yorkshire so it's not a left-field selection, it's considered."

Miller added that picking Durham's Stokes was about keeping one eye on the future.

"It's not just about picking the side," he said. "You obviously pick players to win the series but we have to think about the future as well, the immediate future and a bit further on.

"He's proved over the last year or so that he's developing his game rapidly, he's an exciting prospect.

"He comes into the squad to feel the atmosphere and we know he's capable of doing a job for us in the all-rounder position."

England squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Gary Ballance, Michael Carberry, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Matt Prior (vice-captain), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Monty Panesar, Steven Finn, Boyd Rankin, Chris Tremlett.

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Aussies Declare as Clarke Bowled

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Stuart Broad bowled Michael Clarke for 187 to claim his 200th Test wicket before Australia declared their first innings on 527-7 shortly after tea on day two at Old Trafford.

Broad became the 15th Englishman, and second youngest after Sir Ian Botham, to reach the milestone but the runs kept coming for the tourists in the third Ashes Test, Brad Haddin (65no) and Mitchell Starc (66no) helping themselves to half-centuries.

Clarke and Haddin put on 62 in good time either side of lunch and it was something of a surprise when Clarke deflected a short ball onto his stumps. The Australia skipper's effort spanned 314 balls, included 23 fours and is the highest of his five Ashes hundreds.

England spinner Graeme Swann, who had removed Steve Smith (89) and David Warner (5) before lunch, completed his 17th five-wicket haul in Tests with the wicket of Peter Siddle (1), who was bowled aiming into the leg side.

But Starc joined Haddin in a boundary-filled, eighth-wicket stand of 97 in 19.3 overs as each of England's frontline bowlers - Swann (5-159), Broad (1-108), Tim Bresnan (1-114) and James Anderson (0-116) - ended the afternoon session with more than 100 in the runs conceded column.

Clarke called his batsmen in four overs after tea, giving Australia plenty of time to try and make some inroads into England's top order before the close.

Australia resumed on 303-3 at the start of day two and, in bright sunshine, Clarke and Smith batted throughout the first hour with few alarms to extend their fourth-wicket partnership to 214 - before Smith suffered a rush of blood to deny himself a maiden Test hundred.

He came down the pitch to Swann and miscued a big heave into the leg side. Jonny Bairstow, at midwicket, made a steepling catch look easy.

Warner, recalled for his first appearance of the series after serving a ban for punching England's Joe Root in a Birmingham bar earlier in the summer, was given a hostile welcome by the Manchester crowd.

He lasted only 10 balls. Swann found the left-hander's outside edge and Jonathan Trott at slip took the catch after it looped up via wicketkeeper Matt Prior's thigh.

Warner, who hit his pad with the bat at the same moment the ball made contact with his outside edge, was convinced he had not hit it and - after a discussion with Clarke - wasted Australia's last DRS review in a futile attempt to overturn umpire Tony Hill's decision.

Australia are 2-0 down in the series and need victory in Manchester to keep alive their hopes of regaining the Ashes.

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Swann Gets Twitter Death Threats

England spinner Graeme Swann has revealed he has been sent death threats via Twitter in the wake of his side's one-day hammering in India.

Following a summer of domination over the Indians, England went down 5-0 to the same opponents on the sub-continent and Swann unbeaten with the bat as 10 wickets were lost for just 47 runs in Tuesday's final game - has been in the firing line.

He told The Sun: "Although I don't condone death threats on Twitter, I could almost understand it when I had a couple of hundred people threatening all manner of retribution after Tuesday's match.

"Not everyone in cyberworld has a perspective - after all, it is only a game of cricket. But you can almost understand why people get wound up.

"It can't be easy to watch us, not just losing but losing the way we did."

Horror

Meanwhile, Swann has refuted claims that his autobiography, in which he criticised the leadership skills of his team-mate and former captain Kevin Pietersen, had anything to do with the series results.

"England have endured a horror month but I can state right now it has nothing to do with what I wrote about Kevin Pietersen in my book," Swann, who will lead England in Saturday's one-off Twenty20 international, added.

"People have claimed my observation that KP is not a natural leader and should not have captained England has caused dressing-room divisions and a breakdown in team spirit.

"Well, anybody who thinks that does not know this England team.

"The reason we lost the one-day series 5-0 to India is because we've been outplayed in conditions which suit the home team. No excuses, we've been hammered.

"As soon as I serialised my autobiography, I spoke to Kevin and explained exactly what I'd written, why I'd written it and that it was not intended as a personal attack on him.

"He accepted that and we shook hands. My relationship with Kevin is exactly the same now as before the book was published."