England name 16-man squad for pre-Ashes camp

ENGLAND today named a 16-strong squad for a pre-Ashes camp to be held later this week and a team to take on Warwickshire in a three-day warm-up match at Edgbaston starting on July 1st.

The selectors also named Ian Bell as captain of the England Lions team – in place of Kent skipper Rob Key – for the four-day tour match against Australia at Worcester also starting on July 1st. Joe Denly is also named in the Lions squad.

Commenting on the selection, National Selector Geoff Miller said: “The pre-Ashes camp is designed to give Andy Flower and the rest of the management team an opportunity to meet with the players ahead of their series and begin their preparations in earnest.

“We will continue to consider players outside the 16 chosen for the camp and will closely monitor performances in domestic cricket as the international season progresses. The door has not been closed on any player at this stage.

“Michael Vaughan will, of course, be disappointed not to have been included. But I met with Michael recently and he understands that he needs to make runs consistently in County cricket if he is to force his way back into the squad.

“We are pleased to welcome Andrew Flintoff and Ryan Sidebottom back to the Test squad after recovering from injury and Adil Rashid“s inclusion reflects our view that he is maturing all the time as a cricketer and has the potential to develop still further.

“We have chosen two spinners in our side to face Warwickshire, but this does not necessarily mean that we will opt for the same balance in our bowling attack in the 1st npower Ashes Test. An extra pace bowler still remains an option for our starting line-up at Cardiff.

“In choosing the two teams for the matches at Edgbaston and Worcester, we were also mindful of the need to field a very strong England Lions side against Australia and the inclusion of four bowlers with Test Match experience and Ian Bell as captain demonstrates this.

“We are keen to make the match at Worcester a tough one for Australia and plan to give all the players in the Lions team the maximum opportunity to press their case for selection. As a consequence, we will now be announcing our squad for the 1st npower Ashes Test on Sunday, July 5th – 24 hours later than originally planned.”

England Test squad for pre-Ashes camp:

1. Andrew Strauss (captain) (Middlesex)
2. James Anderson (Lancashire)
3. Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
4. Ravinder Bopara (Essex)
5. Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire)
6. Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
7. Paul Collingwood (Durham)
8. Alastair Cook (Essex)
9. Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
10. Graham Onions (Durham)
11. Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire)
12. Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
13. Matt Prior (Sussex)
14. Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
15. Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire)
16. Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)

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