Flintoff leads Ashes squad

Andrew Flintoff has been named captain of England’s Ashes squad, which also includes Ashley Giles and James Anderson.

Flintoff will return to the helm of the team after leading his country against India and Sri Lanka early this year. Giles and Anderson have not played high-level cricket all season. If they should prove to be unfit, the ECB can draft in replacements from the 14-man academy squad which will be based in Perth. Also selected despite injury is Liam Plunkett, who has been ruled out with a side strain since the Old Trafoord Test.

The squad did not bring any surprises, there was no recall for someone like Mark Ramprakash, or a gamble taken on Stuart Broad. All of the squad have played for England this year, and all available ten of the last Ashes triumph are included. Michael Vaughan and SImon Jones have been ruled out.

David Graveney, chairman of selectors, explained the decision to choose Flintoff as captain: “We have had to make a very tough decision in choosing between Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss for the captaincy and we were fortunate to have two such outstanding candidates available to us in Michael Vaughan’s absence. Ultimately, we took the view that Andrew Flintoff had demonstrated excellent leadership skills during a difficult tour of India earlier this year, that he was the man in possession and deserved a further opportunity to continue as captain.”

The Champions Trophy squad was also announced today, and that too contained no surprises. Andrew Flintoff will be leading that side as well, and bar him, all of the 14-man squad played against Pakistan in the ODI series.

England Ashes Squad
Andrew Flintoff (c), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones (wk), Sajid Mahmood, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Chris Read (wk), Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick

England Champion’s Trophy Squad
Andrew Flintoff (c), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Rikki Clarke, Paul Collingwood, James Dalrymple, Steve Harmison, Ed Joyce, Sajid Mahmood, Jon Lewis, Kevin Pietersen, Chris Read (wk), Andrew Strauss, Michael Yardy

Academy Squad
Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Rikki Clarke, James Dalrymple, Steven Davies, Ed Joyce, Robert Key, Jon Lewis, Graham Onions, Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, Tom Smith, Chris Tremlett, Michael Yardy