England’s pre-Ashes squad of 16 has two surprise exclusions those of the former English skipper Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison. However, England has listed three spinners, including Adil Rashid and Monty Panesar. Rashid’s selection comes as a result of his impressive performance in the World T20 tournament however Panesar has exhibited poor form following his domestic campaign including Cardiff where he took 2 for 149 from 44 overs.
England’s 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.”
Harmison has performed brilliantly in county cricket after he returned from a shin injury but failed to make it into the pre-Ashes squad. The selectors have however picked James Anderson and Stuart Broad next to Graham Onions, Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom as the first-choice seamers.
Also, Vaughan has won the Ashes for England before in 2005, but his 159 runs at 19.88 for Yorkshire this season failed to impress the selectors who need him to score a ton of runs before. Speaking of him, Miller said, “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.
Other players included are Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.