McGrath eyes Strauss and Vaughan

Glenn McGrath has jumped in five months early to set his always-eager sights on a target for the Ashes and is torn between Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss. Australia leave for New Zealand tomorrow, but McGrath is already forecasting for the five-Test series against England starting in July.

"I'll probably either target Vaughan or Strauss," McGrath told radio station 2KY. "Strauss has had a pretty decent start to Test cricket, so he's the guy that set them up for big scores recently."

McGrath played alongside Strauss, who has made five hundreds in his first 12 Tests, at Middlesex last summer while he handpicked Vaughan for attention in the 2002-03 series. Vaughan was dismissed four times by McGrath but was the tour's standout batsman with an amazing 633 runs and three centuries.

In what has become a pre-series gimmick, McGrath singles out a player for special treatment on the eve of the first Test and usually opts for the opposition's most dangerous man. Mike Atherton and Brian Lara were famous casualties, although the method is not McGrath-proof: Nathan Astle was chosen for New Zealand's two-Test tour in November and was dismissed only once.

McGrath did not select a New Zealander when discussing the forthcoming tour, which starts on Thursday with a Twenty20 match before five ODIs and three Tests. "We'll all get pumped up for it pretty easily," he said. "New Zealand is always a good tour. There's always plenty to do there and the wickets are slightly different to Australia so there's enough variety to keep us fresh."