England Squad for first npower Test v Sri Lanka
England today named a 13-man squad for next week's 1st npower Test Match v Sri Lanka at Lord's from May 16th-20th
ECB Media Release
11-May-2002
Official Team Sponsor - Vodafone
England today named a 13-man squad for next week's 1st npower Test Match v
Sri Lanka at Lord's from May 16th-20th.
With Darren Gough and James Foster missing out through injury, Alec Stewart
will keep wicket and there are also recalls for John Crawley, Dominic Cork
and Alex Tudor.
The full squad is:
Nasser Hussain * (Essex) 28.3.68 Mark Butcher (Surrey) 23.8.72 Andrew Caddick (Somerset) 21.11.68 Dominic Cork (Derbyshire) 7.8.71 John Crawley (Hampshire) 21.9.71 Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) 6.12.77 Ashley Giles (Warwickshire) 19.3.73 Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire) 31.12.76 Alec Stewart (Surrey) 8.4.63 Graham Thorpe (Surrey) 1.8.69 Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) 25.12.75 Alex Tudor (Surrey) 23.10.77 Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire) 29.10.74
Commenting on the Test squad announcement, David Graveney, said: "With
regard to the wicket-keeping position, James Foster was the contracted
wicket-keeper and would have been selected for the 1st Test but for his
injury.
"Now that Alec is available again, we see him as the leading candidate for
the wicket-keeping job in James' absence. He is in good form this season, he
understands the position with James and is determined to prove to the
selectors that he has an international future.
"We had a lengthy discussion about the choice of extra batsman and looked
at Ian Bell, David Fulton and Robert Key as well as John Crawley. With
regard to Ian, he has matured a lot as a cricketer over the winter, but we
feel that he hasn't always played on the best possible wickets so far this
summer and therefore has been unable to spend a lot of time in the middle.
"John Crawley has been in outstanding form this season, is benefiting from
being freed from the captaincy role and has also scored a Test hundred
against Sri Lanka before.
"We feel that Dominic Cork's bowling suits the particular requirements of
Lord's - especially if the wicket performs in the same way it has for the
last two years. Dominic has been in good form for Derbyshire, is very fit
and his action is now back to where it was three years ago. He deserves his
place back in the squad.
"Alex Tudor has been troubled by injury in the past but he was a major
benefactor of the National Academy's winter in Australia and has also been
in good form this summer. He has been in and out of the Test side before,
but we hope that he can now be a consistent performer for England.
Tickets are still available for the 1st npower Test via www.lords.org or
through the ECB Ticket Hotline on 08705338833