Lancashire's Caribbean Trio

There will have been contrasting feelings surrounding Old Trafford. On one hand will have been the happiness shared by Sajid Mahmood, Jimmy Anderson and Andrew Flintoff, and on the other, the disappointment for Mal Loye and Glenn Chapple on missing out in England's World Cup squad of 15.

Chapple was probably considered to have only an outside chance of reaching destination Caribbean having not had any international game time to impress the selectors. Meanwhile, Loye's hard and innovative hitting at the top of the order in England's recent CB Series success, was not deemed enough to retain his place in the squad.

Loye will look back on a series of starts without going on to make a big score and truly cement his place in the squad. His style of batting certainly had the Australian opening bowlers looking puzzled, as he regularly got down onto one knee for his trademark slog sweep (which on one occasion did earn him a trip to hospital to have his chin stitched up). At this level when a supposed weakness is found the bowlers have the quality to exploit it, and this seemed the case as they probed away just outside Loye's off stump inducing the drive, resulting in him being dismissed four times caught behind the wicket early in the series. The perils for an opening bat of facing bowlers who use the new ball expertly.

It appears Ravi Bopara was the man selected ahead of Lancashire's opener, with England preferring a more multi-dimensional player rather than travelling to the World Cup with seven specialist batsmen.

It is not inconceivable that Loye may still make it to the West Indies as a replacement if any of the batsmen get injured, and with Michael Vaughan's recent problems I shouldn't think Loye will leave his passport too far out of reach.

Jimmy Anderson's selection will be subject to further re-assessment regarding his troublesome back problem. He returned home early from the recent Australian tour merely as a precaution as he was receiving discomfort in a similar area to the problem he had last year. He is back in the nets at Lancashire but only as a batsman, and England will be hoping it isn't too long before he gets a few overs under his belt.

It was during the World Cup in 2003 that Anderson announced himself on the world scene, when at Newlands against Pakistan he ripped through their top order taking 4-29 off his 10 overs, including Yousuf and Inzamam, both for first ballers.

Mahmood's recall into the one-day side coincided with England winning the last four games on the Australian tour and he was understandably delighted when he was told of his inclusion in the World Cup party.

This is considered just reward for the fast bowler who bowled some more than useful spells in the recent CB Series, where he concentrated more on his areas as averse to trying to bowl too quickly.

He visited the West Indies in the early part of last year with the England 'A' squad with encouraging success. He claimed 12 wickets in five one-day games, against West Indies respective 'A' side, at an average of 15.75, also picking up 12 wickets in two 4-day matches. A repeat of that form will certainly help England to progress to the later stages of the competition.
There was no doubt that 'Freddie' Flintoff was to be included in England's selection, it was merely a question of what capacity. Would he be chosen as the man to attempt to lead England to their first ever World Cup victory or would he be restored back to the ranks to concentrate solely on winning England matches with his performances. The latter option was decided as England opted for the injury ravaged Vaughan to take centre stage.

Now does this show a lack of faith in Freddie's leadership that they are willing to gamble once again on a man so unfortunate with knee and hamstring problems, and without a great ODI record, in the hope that he can somehow survive the furious pace of such a prestigious one-day event? Or is it simply the fact that England are a better side when Vaughan takes control and asserts his calming, yet authoritative leadership on the team and leaving Freddie free from the strains of captaincy and focused solely on his own contributions?

It certainly took the pressure off the selectors when it was announced that any injured players can be replaced by players selected in the original 30-man party, making it much less of a gamble to include Vaughan.

So with the unfortunate Loye and Chapple left to watch the event at home, Lancashire will still have three representatives in the England set-up. They will also have two other players that will be representing their countries in Brad Hodge, who was selected for tournament favourites Australia, and Muttiah Muralitharan, who will be hoping to spin Sri Lanka to a repeat of their victorious 1996 campaign.

It is possible that Lancs will be without five of their side when they take to the field at Edgbaston on April 18 for the first game of the County Championship season. That is if England, Australia and Sri Lanka progress to the closing stages of the competition with the second stage of the World Cup not concluding till April 21.

Still I am sure we can find forgiveness for the England trio should they still be there.

(BBC Lancashire, 20/02/07)