Luke Wright and Plunkett will tour South Africa
The selection of Luke Wright and Liam Plunkett for England’s tour of South Africa this winter will surprise many. The lack of reserve batsmen suggests that England will continue with Prior at six and five bowlers. Steven Davies is the reserve wicketkeeper, and Adil Rashid will understudy Graeme Swann.
Here is the 16-man squad in full:
Strauss, Cook, Bell, Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior, Davies, Wright, Broad, Swann, Rashid, Anderson, Onions, Plunkett, Sidebottom
Plunkett first played for England during the Pakistan tour of 2005, but hasn’t appeared since the summer of 2007. Some incisive bowling for Durham as they retained the county championship has put him back in the frame. With Steve Harmison’s career evidently winding down, Plunkett is one of the few younger pace bowlers who could step up.
The selection of Wright is intriguing. He has been a regular in England’s Twenty20 and ODI teams for some time, and tends to be viewed as a limited overs specialist. But county cricket is not an easy place to judge suitability for Test cricket, and some of England’s best Test players in the last 10 years (Vaughan, Trescothick) have thrived despite modest stats for their counties. Wright will presumably act as backup to Stuart Broad, who will move up to number 7 now that Flintoff has retired.
Tim Bresnan had played two Tests against West Indies whilst Flintoff was injured, but his form for Yorkshire was poor, although he continues in the ODI squad, which is as follows:
Strauss, Cook, Denly, Trott, Pietersen, Morgan, Collingwood, Prior, Rashid, Wright, Broad, Bresnan, Mahmood, Swann Onions, Anderson
The big losers are Ravi Bopara from the Test squad, and Owais Shah who has now been jettisoned from the limited overs team as well as the Test side. Whilst there will be much media talk about Harmison’s omission, it was to be expected – it may be that he will now retire, as has been suggested in the media.
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