The Australian squad for South Africa is in, and Chris Rogers international career appears over.

Ponting, Clarke, Bollinger, Haddin, Hauritz, Hilfenhaus, Hughes, M. Hussey, Johnson, Katich, McDonald, McGain, North, Siddle.

Only one genuine opener in there, and it's the not-yet-21-year-old Philip Hughes. Thirty first class innings is enough, according to the selectors, and the kid from NSW will replace Matthew Hayden at the top of the Australian order. If Rogers' 11,000 first class runs at 49.94 aren't enough now, they never will be. Thanks for coming Bucky, you did what you could.

This is an extraordinary decision by the selectors, and wilfully ignores, in my view, the lessons of history. We talked about this at AGB Cricket the other week. Test cricket, particularly against a resurgent South Africa, is an incredibly difficult caper. Those who succeed at their first try are few and far between. But that's the responsbility being placed on Hughes' shoulders. Good luck to him, he'll need it.

Meanwhile, Rogers finishes with one Test match to his name. Victorians wail on and on about how hard done by Brad Hodge is, but Rogers, who has been the best Australian opening batsman outside the Test side over the past five years, has been treated far worse.

Of the rest of the squad, the pace bowlers are about as good as can be expected given how the stocks have been decimated by injury. The spinners are interesting. McGain goes, as Tony predicted, but Hauritz is preferred over Krezja. I don't see it myself.

The top five appear set but the battle will be over the number 6 spot. Do the selectors persist with the notion of an allrounder in McDonald (who if picked would presumably bat 7 behind Haddin), or do they pick a specialist bat in Marcus North, who can also roll the arm over with finger spinners that have been quite effective in domestic Twenty20, but are likely too innocuous in Test cricket.

I hope they go for North, for no other reason than he deserves it, I think we'll need the runs and I don't see McDonald taking enough wickets to make up for his lack of technique (and therefore runs) with the bat.

This is going to be a very interesting tour for Australia, to say the least.

UPDATE 1.13pm - Hughes is the youngest player picked to play a Test for Australian in 25 years. Craig McDermott was picked to play the Windies in 1984 as a teenager.