That was partly caused by desperation after the abject bowling display at Headingley.
To recap:
Definites (if fit)
Hussain - captain
Trescothick
Vaughan - established openers
Butcher - much as I don't rate him, he's in form
Gough - best bowler
Hoggard - can swing it a lot when in form
Flintoff - we have no other all rounders
Probables
Crawley - has played himself back in
Stewart - fantastic form, but we don't want to leave ourselves with no-one when he quits
Caddick - doesn't travel well, except to NZ
Giles - no other spinners...
Ramprakash - *cough*
Tudor - *cough*
Key - learning
White - competent with both aspects
Possibles - plus a few wildcards
Irani - has his chance, it's down to him at the Oval
Read
Foster - future keepers
Fulton - I'll keep saying it
Knight - averaging 90+ this year. "not a test player"
Thorpe - "sabbatical" issues
Bell - potential
Blackwell - in ODI Trophy squad, for the future
Kadeer Ali
Shafayat
Hogg - impressive for U19s
Harmison
Jones - impressive debuts, but the "wrong" counties
Cork - sorry, but it's over
Maddy - hot form
Kabir Ali
Dean
Saggers - fantastic seasons (again, Martin..)
Dawson
Graeme Swann
Jason Brown
Salisbury - a few spinners - we're screwed in sydney
A heck of a lot of the bottom group won't go. But I am concerned that two which shouldn't even make "possibles" will go, namely:
Rikki Clarke
Ian Ward
And we all know full well why
!
[Edited on 9/2/02 by Neil Pickup]