Flintoff made to work for England cause
ANDREW FLINTOFF faces a potentially gruelling workload after being named in England’s one-day and Twenty20 squads.
The all-rounder has battled through the Ashes series with a knee injury and will quit Test cricket at the end of the deciding match at The Oval this weekend to concentrate on the limited-overs game.
And he’ll have plenty to focus on with the Lancastrian named in both one-day and Twenty20 internationals against Australia as well as the 15-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, which gets underway in South Africa in September.
Uncapped opener Joe Denly is rewarded for his impressive county form for Kent with a first call-up, although star batsman Kevin Pietersen misses out as he continues his recovery from an Achilles injury.
There is no place either for Steve Harmison or Ian Bell, while Alastair Cook, James Foster, Robert Key and Dimitri Mascarenhas also miss out from the provisional 30-man squad.
Denly and Flintoff are also being lined up to take on Ireland in a one-day international on 27 September. That team will be led by Paul Collingwood while Andrew Strauss is rested.
National selector Geoff Miller explained: “We have kept faith with the bulk of the squad which was successful in the NatWest Series against West Indies this summer. We have also included two players, Luke Wright and Adil Rashid, who were part of our squad for the ICC World T20.
“Joe Denly has impressed the selectors for a while with some excellent performances in one-day cricket – and with Kevin Pietersen unavailable through injury, this is an excellent opportunity for him.”
SQUAD FOR ODIs v AUSTRALIA
A Strauss (capt), J Anderson,
R Bopara, T Bresnan, S Broad,
P Collingwood, J Denly,
A Flintoff, E Morgan, M Prior,
A Rashid, O Shah, R Sidebottom,
G Swann, L Wright