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| January 14, 2006 | Saturday | Zilhaj 13, 1426 |
Gough’s World Cup hopes fade
LONDON, Jan 13: Darren Gough’s hopes of reviving his international career and appearing in next year’s World Cup suffered a major setback after the 35-year-old fast bowler was left out of England’s squad for the forthcoming tour of India announced on Friday.
Gough, now a one-day specialist at international level, ruled himself out of the first half of England’s ‘winter’ programme, the tour of Pakistan.
However, the Essex paceman — formerly at Yorkshire — made himself available for the seven-match one-day series in India which follows the three-match Test encounter.
But the performances of James Anderson and Liam Plunkett in a losing cause in Pakistan, plus the return from injury of Ashes star Simon Jones, have seen England stand by them and instead omit Gough.
Durham quick Plunkett is included in both squads for the first time after impressing in Pakistan while Test regular Ian Bell gets his one-day call-up at the expense of the dropped Vikram Solanki.
Jones, who has not played since injuring his ankle during the fourth Ashes Test victory at Trent Bridge, will fly out on Jan 26 to spend 10 days at the Fast Bowling Academy in Chennai set up by Australia great Dennis Lillee.
Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, whose tour of Pakistan was cut short by a hip injury, and off-spinner Shaun Udal — who struggled during the 2-0 Test series defeat — have both retained their places.
However, the selectors have left open the option of adding another spinner and that could see Northamptonshire’s uncapped Monty Panesar called-up.
Squads:
Test: Michael Vaughan (captain), Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones, Simon Jones, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Prior, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick, Shaun Udal.
One-day: Vaughan (captain), Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Bell, Ian Blackwell, Collingwood, Flintoff, Giles, Harmison, Geraint Jones, Simon Jones, Pietersen, Prior, Plunkett, Strauss, Trescothick.—AFP
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