SYDNEY - Former Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Tom Moody have criticised the selectors, following Australia’s Ashes-losing defeat in the Fifth Test at The Oval.

Warne said that he was “staggered” by the decision to leave spinner Nathan Hauritz out of the side, while Moody said that selectors had got the decision “horribly wrong”, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“I do not know who had the final say on selection, whether it was the selectors themselves, or Ricky, or what degree of input came from Tim Nielsen, the coach. We all make mistakes and somebody, somewhere, will have to take the blame for this one,” Warne wrote in The Times.

Moody said that the decision to not pick a genuine spinner on a slow and turning pitch at The Oval was “inexcusable”.

“If anything, you would be looking to play two. But, Australia chose not to and paid the price dearly,” Moody said.

“It was quite clear to me Clark was the one that had to miss out, even though he bowled particularly well at Headingley. At the end of the day, you’ve got to pick horses for courses, and that Test wicket is a place, where you always have to employ a spinner,” he added.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has backed Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of the selection panel, and fellow selectors Jamie Cox, David Boon and Merv Hughes, and said that selectors were in no way “accountable for us losing the Ashes”.

“It was only six or seven months ago that we had a fantastic series in South Africa and beat the No.1 team in the world with a pretty similar line-up, and the selectors were hailed for their selections and the perceived risks they took in backing young talent,” Sutherland said. (ANI)