England Player Availability for County Cricket

ECB today announced the availability of England players for the next round of domestic fixtures following the conclusion of the 4th npower Test Match at Headingley Carnegie yesterday

England captain Andrew Strauss (pictured)will miss the LV County Championship match against Essex this week and the Nat West Pro 40 fixture against Leicestershire on Sunday.

Five members of the team which played in the 4th npower Test Match against Australia will be available to their Counties for the next round of LV County Championship matches starting tomorrow. They are: Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Alastair Cook, Graham Onions and Graeme Swann

Managing Director, England Cricket, Hugh Morris said: "Following discussions with the England team management, it has been decided to make a number of players available to their Counties for four day cricket this week. We are aware that we underperformed with bat and ball at Headingley and this decision is designed to give players an opportunity to spend time in the middle and get overs under their belt ahead of the decisive 5th npower Test at The Brit Oval next week."

The full list of availability is as follows:

11-15 August – LV County Championship
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex) – Unavailable v Essex
James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) – Unavailable v Durham
Ian Bell (Warwickshire) – Available v Nottinghamshire
Ravi Bopara and Alastair Cook (Essex) – Available v Middlesex
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire) – Unavailable v Warwickshire
Paul Collingwood and Stephen Harmison (Durham) – Unavailable v Lancashire
Graham Onions (Durham) – Available v Lancashire
Matt Prior (Sussex) – Unavailable v Worcestershire
Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire) – Available v Warwickshire

Picture: Getty Images