Cricket story by Dominic Taylor, Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:16:00 GMT


LONDON - Simon Jones was recalled to the England squad that is to take on India in a Test and One-Day series in late February and March. Michael Vaughan and Ashley Giles have also been included, but they have to prove their fitness prior to embarking on the tour.

David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, announced the squad yesterday, but has left one place vacant for a mystery spinner, who will be announced before the team leaves for India on February 12. "For the third spinner people may be surprised we have left an opening. Loudon went on the last trip, he is a young guy starting his career and did very well. Monty did very well for Northants, he has been in Adelaide working on the areas he needed to improve, and Ian Blackwell is part of the one-day party," David Graveney told Sky Sports. "We want to work with these guys and we have a fantastic facility at Loughborough. We didn't want to make a hasty decision."

Giles has had surgery on his hip and was forced to miss the third test in Pakistan. If he is slow to recover, speculations are that Morty Panesar would take his place although the inclusion of Blackwell cannot be ruled out. Giles was optimistic that he would make the trip, "I've still got a way to go but I am working hard and looking forward to bowling in India," he said.

His partner Shaun Udal was delighted to get another opportunity after a lackluster performance in Pakistan, "I was a little worried in case the vote didn't go my way, but thanks to the selectors for keeping faith and I hope to repay them with wickets in India," the Hampshire spinner said. Liam Plunkett has been included in place of James Anderson and Simon Jones returns to the squad. Meanwhile there was no place for Darren Gough in the one-day squad and it looks like his hopes of playing next year's World Cup and fast fading.

TEST SQUAD

*M P Vaughan, M E Trescothick, A J Strauss, I R Bell, K P Pietersen , A Flintoff , G O Jones, A F Giles. S P Jones, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, P D Collingwood, S D Udal, L E Plunkett, M J Prior.

ONE-DAY SQUAD

Vaughan (captain); Trescothick; Strauss; Bell; Pietersen; Flintoff; G O Jones; Giles; †S P Jones; Harmison; Collingwood; Plunkett; J M Anderson; Blackwell; Prior (wicketkeeper); Kabir Ali

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