Rivals set out on road to Ashes

England and Australia begin key Tests as countdown to summer begins in earnest

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The two Ashes protagonists begin crucial Test matches today with remodelled sides desperate to start to build confidence ahead of the battle for the urn later in the summer.

For England, taking on West Indies in Bridgetown, Barbados, the remodelling is because they are, once more, without their talisman Andrew Flintoff. Australia begin the post-Matt Hayden era with a Test, the first of three, against South Africa in Johannesburg striving to hold on to their spot at the top of the world Test rankings. Series defeat will mean demotion to No 2 in time for the summer.

Flintoff's absence, combined with that of wicketkeeper Matt Prior due to paternity leave, has dictated a revamp in the middle order and pushed England into fielding a four-man attack for a Test they must win if they are to have any hopes of claiming the four-match series.

And they may be set to make some bold decisions, handing a debut to the Danish-born Kent fast bowler Amjad Khan, in place of Steve Harmison, and calling in Ravi Bopara to replace Flintoff. With a four-man attack it is hoped Khan, who, along with Bopara only joined up with the squad last week when Flintoff fell down, can provide a greater wicket-taking threat than did Harmison in Antigua where England failed to win from a very winnable position. Khan took five wickets in England's two-day warm-up game against a President's XI and Bopara smashed a century.

"They're definitely in the frame for selection and we're quite excited by having them in the squad," the captain Andrew Strauss said yesterday. "They give us different options, Ravi with his ability to bowl a few overs as well as his obvious class with the bat and Amjad who looks like a very promising bowler when it reverses and who was getting it through at good pace.

"We've had to play without [Flintoff] quite a lot over the last few years and if you rest all your hopes on one man, sometimes the rest of the team don't take the responsibility they need to," Strauss said. "We've found when he hasn't played before the bowlers have stood up and performed and the batting unit has performed as well so there is no reason we can't win. We'd love him in the side but I don't think it affects our chances."

For the Australians, Phillip Hughes replaces Hayden at the top of the order to become, at 20, their youngest debutant since Craig McDermott in 1984. There are other debutants: Marcus North will provide runs in the middle order and Ben Hillfenhaus is added as the quick bowler, the side deciding to do without spin.

The South Africans, who beat the Australians in their recent series Down Under, are sticking to that same successful outift.