Jones omitted from Caribbean curtain-raiser

Simon Jones has been omitted from England's 12-man team to take on Jamaica at Sabina Park, as the tour of the Caribbean begins in earnest. Jones, who arrives in Kingston this evening, was, as expected, rested until the second warm-up match against the Vice-Chancellor's XI which begins on Friday. In his absence, Rikki Clarke has been given an unexpected opportunity to stake a claim for a second allrounder's berth.

In Jones's absence, England have entrusted their seam-bowling duties to Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Matthew Hoggard. England's batsmen, meanwhile, are fully expecting a traditional Caribbean welcome, especially with Jamaica's young fast bowler Jermaine Lawson looking to regain his Test place.

"You expect a bit of chin music when you come to these parts," said Michael Vaughan. "When you go to Sri Lanka you practise against spin and when you come to these parts you practise the shorter stuff a bit more."

But Vaughan was unconcerned at the prospect of taking on the quicks. "We're used to this sort of bowling more so than facing Murali on dusty pitches in 100 degrees heat," he added. "It's going to be hot out here, but the lads are generally used to facing seam and fast bowling.

Lawson is the most high-profile of a below-strength Jamaican team, with many of their bigger names resting after victory in the semi-final of the Carib Beer Cup. He has taken 29 wickets in seven Tests to date, including a matchwinning haul of 7 for 78 against Australia last May. But he has since been sidelined, partly because of a back injury, and partly because of being reported to the ICC for a suspect bowling action.

"We don't know a great deal about Jermaine Lawson," admitted Vaughan, "but he's obviously had a bit of a rough time and he's making his comeback so it will be interesting to see how he goes. I'm sure he will be looking to impress and get into the West Indies squad."

Jones aside, England have named something approaching their first-choice XI, with the first Test due to begin at this very venue on March 11.

Jamaica 1 Brenton Parchment (capt), 2 Bevon Brown, 3 Shawn Findlay, 4 Danza Hyatt, 5 Lorenzo Ingram, 6 Dwight Mais, 7 Matthew Sinclair (wk), 8 Evon McInnis, 9 Donovon Pagon, 10 Mario Ventura, 11 Jermaine Lawson.

England XII 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Rikki Clarke, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson, 12 Matthew Hoggard.