Flintoff, Trescothick stay at home

Four new faces took their places in England's One-Day International squad for the forthcoming controversial five-game tour to crisis-stricken Zimbabwe, but Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick and Steve Harmison will stay in England.

The build up to the squad announcement on Tuesday was beset by rumours over whether certain players would be selected, rested or refuse to travel due to moral objections to the deplorable Zanu-PF regime, but as it was just fast bowler Stephen Harmison told the selectors that he would not travel.

All-rounder and ICC Player of the Year Andrew Flintoff and Champions Trophy Final centurion Marcus Trescothick were excluded from the squad by the selection panel on the grounds that they needed a rest in advance of the Test and ODI tour of South Africa over the New Year, whilst left-arm spinner Ashley Giles was given the option to remain at home, but decided to tour. Yorkshire's Anthony McGrath also misses out, following a summer of under-performance in his national colours.

Replacing these four omissions are Ian Bell, Simon Jones, Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Prior. Natal-born Pietersen, whose residency qualification period is completed this October, has scored exceptionally heavily in both forms of domestic cricket in recent seasons, will compete with Bell - who impressed with 70 on Test debut against the West Indies at the Oval in the final Test of the summer - for the middle order position vacated by Flintoff.

Glamorgan quick bowler Jones, though rarely used in one-day cricket by his county, has been selected as a like-for-like replacement for Harmison - who was used similarly by Durham before his breakthrough season - to give the team an extra dimension of pace as it misses both of its 90mph+ men. Sussex wicketkeeper-batsman Prior is in many ways the surprise selection of the four as the stand-in for Trescothick. Chairman of Selectors David Graveney was adamant that the young South African-born player had not been selected by virtue of his wicket-keeping abilities as a replacement for Chris Read, but as a hard-hitting opening batsman and electric cover fielder.

Just one of the four new call-ups, Ian Bell, retains his squad position for January and February's seven ODIs in South Africa, with Trescothick, Flintoff and Harmison all returning alongside surprise pick Kabir Ali, who has now been originally selected for four ODI tournament squads but is yet to bowl a ball. Suggestions that either Darren Gough or Alex Wharf would pay the penalty for their wicketless Champions Trophy final displays proved unfounded, as both bowlers kept their places in both squads.

England will play two warm-up matches in Namibia before travelling to Harare for the first two ODIs, and then move on to Bulawayo for the final three matches of a series that they should win 5-0. They then depart for South Africa for a Five-Test Series, before the ODI specialists return for seven matches, starting at the Wanderers ground in Johannesburg at the end of January.

England ODI Squad to tour Zimbabwe
*Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire)
Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire)
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Paul Collingwood (Durham)
Kevin Pietersen (Nottinghamshire)
Matthew Prior (Sussex)
+Geraint Jones (Kent)
Gareth Batty (Worcestershire)
Ashley Giles (Warwickshire)
Simon Jones (Glamorgan)
Alex Wharf (Glamorgan)
Darren Gough (Essex)
James Anderson (Lancashire)

England one-day squad to tour South Africa
*Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire)
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)
Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire)
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Paul Collingwood (Durham)
Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
+Geraint Jones (Kent)
Gareth Batty (Worcestershire)
Kabir Ali (Worcestershire)
Ashley Giles (Warwickshire)
Alex Wharf (Glamorgan)
Darren Gough (Essex)
Stephen Harmison (Durham)
James Anderson (Lancashire)

Posted by Neil