Cricket: Jones left out of Ashes tour: Australian selectors concentrate on youth for this summer's England trip

THERE is no room for the flamboyant Dean Jones in Allan Border's youthful, 17-man Ashes party, announced yesterday, the injury-prone Bruce Reid is missing, and England are spared the spectre of 'lbw bowled Terry Alderman' this summer.

There are four uncapped players in the squad - whose tour begins on 30 April against an England Amateur XI at Radlett - and the selectors have ignored the plea of their captain, Border, to choose Jones, who has a Test average of 47 but who has been struggling during the southern summer.

Jones scored 566 runs at an average of more than 70 on the 1989 Ashes tour, but has been dropped after failing to score a century for Victoria this season. The stylish batsman, who averaged 74 playing for Durham in the County Championship last summer, described his omission from the squad as the worst day of his life. 'I don't know where this leaves me with my career and it's going to be a pretty hard pill to get over,' he said.

The selectors agreed, however, with Border's valuation of Mark Waugh, whose place was in jeopardy until he opened the batting with success in the recent one-day series against New Zealand. Border said last week he wanted Mark Waugh in the squad.

His twin, Steve, will play for a place in the middle-order while Mark Taylor's opening partner will come down to a choice between Mark Waugh, or one of the two 22-year-old rookies, Queensland's Matthew Hayden and New South Wales' Michael Slater, who each scored more than 1,000 runs in the Sheffield Shield this season.

The other two fresh faces are those of Wayne Holdsworth, the New South Wales fast bowler who spearheaded his state's overwhelming victory in the Shield final earlier this week, and Brendon Julian, also 22 and a bowler who bats, from Western Australia.

Holdsworth, who comes into a bowling attack comprising Craig McDermott, Mervyn Hughes, Paul Reiffel, Tim May, Shane Warne and Julian, finished his domestic season with career-best performances in his last three matches, ending with seven wickets in Queensland's second-innings collapse in the Shield final.

The 24-year-old, who was dropped by NSW half-way through the season, finished the campaign on top of the wicket-taking list with 53 at an average of 25.96. He took 29 wickets in his last three Shield games.

David Boon, Taylor and Border will provide the backbone of the batting while middle-order places will be disputed by the Waugh brothers and Damien Martyn. Justin Langer and Tom Moody have missed a place.

Western Australia's Tim Zoehrer returns as a reserve wicketkeeper for Ian Healy. Zoehrer may become the tour workhorse as he has been making hundreds and taking wickets with spin in the Shield of late.

AUSTRALIA'S ASHES TOURING PARTY: A R Border (Queensland, capt), M A Taylor (New South Wales, vice-capt), D C Boon (Tasmania), M L Hayden (Queensland), I A Healy (Queensland, wkt), W J Holdsworth (NSW), M G Hughes (Victoria), B P Julian (Western Australia), C J McDermott (Queensland), D R Martyn (WA), T B A May (South Australia), P R Reiffel (Victoria), M J Slater (NSW), S K Warne (Victoria), M E Waugh (NSW), S R Waugh (NSW), T J Zoehrer (WA).