Legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne feels that Australia seems to be confused by picking wicket-keeper Tim Paine for the Ashes squad against England as he is not even the first choice selection for Tasmania.

Paine played the last of his four Tests in October 2010, got the nod ahead of out-of-form Matthew Wade and contender Peter Nevill for a spot in a 13-man squad for the opening two Test matches. He has been even behind Wade in Tasmania squad but was included in Steve Smith’s squad, with Australia selection chief Trevor Hohns calling him the best wicketkeeper in the country.

Talking about the same, Warne said, “England at the moment is just going along nicely. They’re just doing their business. Australia looks confused. They’re picking wicket-keepers that aren’t even keeping for their state. To me, I think England are in a better situation going into that first test than what Australia are.”

The series opener of the five-Test Ashes will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane from Thursday and the series would be closely fought, reckons Warne, who took 708 wickets in 145 tests in a prolonged career of 15 years. He said, “Being at home, you think that Australia has an advantage. But I think this will be a super close series. It comes down to the bowling mainly. I think Australia’s bowlers are excellent.”

Paine scored a fifty against England and kept for the Cricket Australia XI in the tour match in Adelaide. He also amassed an unbeaten 71 against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield this week playing as a frontline batsman.

Former Australia skipper Mark Taylor congratulated Australia’s selection panel for picking in-form players. He said, “I think they’ve had Tim Paine higher on the pecking order than a lot of us did, and they’ve made a couple of form selections which I think are bold selections and good ones. I think they’ve made some tough decisions, bold ones, up front. They’ve said this is the side we believe is the most in-form side to beat England and we’re going to pick it.”