`I don't think Lehmann will go to England': Waugh

The writing is on the wall for Lehmann, says Mark Waugh © Getty Images

Mark Waugh, the former Australian batsman, expressed the view that Darren Lehmann's international career is all but over, saying that it was highly unlikely that Lehmann would be selected for the Ashes tour later this year. Lehmann, 35, who was dropped for the one-day series in New Zealand, has had a poor run of form lately, managing a mere 87 runs in the VB Series.

"I don't think he will go to England, the Australian selectors are looking at younger players," Waugh told AFP. "He's a great player and a great team man but I think, unfortunately, age has probably just caught up with him."

Waugh, who retired on the eve of the last Ashes series in 2002-03, said that he expects a "pretty easy" triumph for Australia. "England might have a chance but I don't know if they believe in themselves against Australia," he said. "They could take a Test off us, but I think something like 4-1 will be the result."

Waugh, who is also likely to stand for the post of a national selector, was quite vocal about the contentious rotation policy of the Australian selectors. "I don't think it works. It didn't work four or five years ago so I don't know why they brought it back in.

"I remember being rotated against Zimbabwe two or three times -- and I was batting pretty well and there was probably a lot of runs to be scored against Zimbabwe. At the end of the season, you sit down with the selectors and they are sorting out your contract and where we were rated with other players, and I remember them saying 'you have had a fair year but you haven't scored as many runs as we would have liked'.

"I felt like saying 'well, you shouldn't have rotated me against Zimbabwe'."