Graveney says series can be saved with Panesar or without

David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, believes the Ashes are not yet lost, though Australia hold a 2-0 lead in the five-match series going into the third Test in Perth this week.

"We know where we have been under par," Graveney said. "The Australians are quite rightly talking a big game and we know we are playing a really tough team. But we have had some success and have great resolve. Everyone has to pull together. We can turn this around."

Whether the Northamptonshire spinner Monty Panesar will be called up in Perth is unclear. There has been speculation that the captain, Andrew Flintoff, and coach, Duncan Fletcher, disagreed over whether Panesar should be called up in place of Ashley Giles in Adelaide. Graveney refused to clarify the matter.

"I was happy to go along with what Duncan and Freddie had decided," he said. "It is not necessarily about which spinner plays or both spinners playing. In the first Test [in Brisbane] our seam bowling was not on the money. In the second Test we played really well, scored over 500 runs and everyone knows what happened on Tuesday. We just had a mad hour with the bat and succumbed to the pressure applied by the No 1-ranked team in the world.

"Perhaps there is the possibility of playing with two spinners in Perth, as the wicket is now slow instead of being the quickest in the world."