25 February 2004	Wednesday	04 Muharram 1425

GATWICK, Feb 24: Michael Vaughan insisted here Tuesday that his England side could be the first in 36 years to win a Test series in the West Indies. England skipper Vaughan, whose side depart for the Caribbean on Wednesday, told reporters: "We can only control what happens in the next two-and-a-half months.

I don't think any of our players were born 36 years ago. But we've got a fantastic chance of going out there and doing really well. Vaughan, hoping to become the first England captain since Colin Cowdrey in 1968 to win a Test series in the West Indies, said home skipper Brian Lara would have a huge influence upon the four-match campaign.

England head to the Caribbean with a relatively inexperienced pace attack of James Anderson, Stephen Harmison and Simon Jones - the first time Vaughan has had all three fast bowlers at his disposal.

Glamorgan quick Jones has not played for England since suffering an horrific knee injury in the first Ashes Test 15 months ago and was sidelined from all first-class cricket in England last season.

But he has proved his fitness on the ongoing England A tour of India and was called up for the Caribbean on Wednesday. However, he cautioned against expecting too much from Jones, whose father Jeff, a left-arm Glamorgan quick, was in the England team back in 1968.

As well as Jones, Harmison and Anderson have had fitness problems. Durham paceman Harmison missed the recent 1-0 Test series defeat in Sri Lanka with a side strain while Lancashire quick Anderson missed the first half of England's pre-Christmas Test trip to the subcontinent in Bangladesh with knee trouble

England are desperate to avoid a repeat of the injury problems that blighted their 2002-03 tour of Australia where they took Darren Gough in the hope that the fast bowler's knee problem would clear up during the trip only for him to return without bowling a ball in anger.

England have only three survivors - batsmen Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe - from their last Caribbean tour in 1997-98 when they lost the Test series 3-1.

Test squad: Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gareth Batty (Worcestershire), Mark Butcher (Surrey), Rikki Clarke (Surrey), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Stephen Harmison (Durham), Nasser Hussain (Essex), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Geraint Jones (Kent, wkt), Simon Jones (Glamorgan), Chris Read (Nottinghamshire, wkt), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Graham Thorpe (Surrey).

One-Day squad: Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gareth Batty (Worcestershire), Ian Blackwell (Somerset), Rikki Clarke (Surrey), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), James Kirtley (Sussex), Anthony McGrath (Yorkshire), Chris Read (Nottinghamshire, wkt), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)

Fixtures:

Mar 1-3: 3-day tour match, Jamaica

Mar 5-7: 3-day tour match, Jamaica

Mar 11-15: 1st TEST, Jamaica

Mar 19-23: 2nd TEST, Trinidad

Mar 26-28: 3-day tour match, Barbados

Apr 1-5: 3rd TEST, Barbados

Apr 10-14: 4th TEST, Antigua

Apr 16: 1-day tour match Guyana

Apr 18: 1st ODI, Guyana

Apr 19: Reserve day for 1st ODI, Guyana

Apr 24: 2nd ODI, Trinidad

Apr 25: 3rd ODI, Trinidad

Apr 28: 4th ODI, Grenada

May 1: 5th ODI, St Lucia

May 2: 6th ODI, St Lucia

May 5: 7th ODI, Barbados. -AFP