England Cricket / Editor / 13 May 2007 /

There was little change in the 'Series Winner' or 'first Test' Betfair markets as England announced their squad for the opener against the West Indies this morning with few surprises.

As expected skipper Michael Vaughan was not named as he continues to recover from a broken finger, but he hopes to be fit for the second Test at Headingley, which gets underway on May 25.

In Vaughan's absence Andrew Strauss will captain the side at Lord's on Thursday, in a game that will see wicket-keeper Matt Prior make his Test debut.

Batsman Owais Shah has been included, but the Lancashire pair of James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood miss out.

Liam Plunkett is one of three Durham players in the squad and there was the expected boost for new coach Peter Moores, who was able to include number one batsman Kevin Pietersen after his recovery from a calf muscle injury.

Strauss, who led England to a 3-0 Test series win over Pakistan in the summer of 2006, will be hoping for more of the same when he takes charge this time around and Betfair punters are fairly bullish the upcoming series will go England's way.

England are 1.68 to get off to the perfect start and secure victory in the first Test, with the tourists trading at 9.4 and the draw at 3.3. There is similar optimism in the 'Series Winner' market as Moores' men are again trading as the odds-on favourites at 1.27, with the Windies at 10 and the draw 7.6.

Speaking to the BBC after announcing the squad, chairman of selectors David Graveney revealed that they had decided to err on the side of caution regarding Vaughan.

"We did not want to go down the route of injections or him trying to play when not 100% fit and I don't it would have been fair to Andrew Strauss either," he said. "The waters would have been muddied. He will be with the team and will continue his rehab and hopefully will be fit for the second Test."
"The selectors came to the conclusion that Andrew Strauss did a very good last summer but in Andrew Flintoff's case we want him to concentrate on his batting and bowling."

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