England Announce World Cup Squad

By Tom Bason
February 14 2007

England today announced their World Cup squad, with the inclusion of Ravi Bopara ahead of Mal Loye the only real surprise. Michael Vaughan is set to lead the team, fitness permitting, with Kevin Pietersen, Jon Lewis and James Anderson all sufficiently recovered from injury to make the trip to the West Indies.

It had been thought that Loye’s 45 against Australia on Sunday had done enough for him to cling to his place, but Bopara is instead picked due to his ability with the ball. This will perhaps leave England short of top-order players who can take advantage of power-plays, especially with Marcus Trescothick’s enforced absence.

The squad:

M Vaughan (capt)

J Anderson

I Bell

R Bopara

P Collingwood

J Dalrymple

A Flintoff

E Joyce

J Lewis

S Mahmood

P Nixon (wkt)