World selectors call up Flintoff

The International Cricket Council yesterday named seven England players in its preliminary squads of 30 for the Super Series Test and one-day matches between Australia and the Rest of the World.

The International Cricket Council yesterday named seven England players in its preliminary squads of 30 for the Super Series Test and one-day matches between Australia and the Rest of the World.

Andrew Flintoff, who heads the list of England players, is the only member of Michael Vaughan's side to be selected for both the Test and one-day squads. Stephen Harmison, Andrew Strauss and Vaughan join Flintoff in the opening Test squad of 30, while Marcus Trescothick, Kevin Pietersen and Darren Gough have initially been picked to sit along side England's most charismatic one-day player.

These squads will be reduced to 20 by an ICC selection panel comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Sir Richard Hadlee, Clive Lloyd, Aravinda de Silva, Mike Atherton and Jonty Rhodes in early June.

In August the same group will pick a squad of 14 for three one-day internationals in Melbourne, and 13 for a six-day Test match in Sydney. The four matches will be played between 5 and 19 October.

"It is fantastic to see seven English players involved in the Test and one-day squads," said Vaughan, the England captain. "It is a great incentive to try and get into the squad of 20 and then into the final 13."

Vaughan owes his selection to an outstanding Ashes series against Australia in 2002-03, while Strauss and Harmison gained theirs on the back of performances in 2004.

India and South Africa, with seven, supply the Test squad with the most players, yet Pakistan, with nine, have the highest number of representatives in both.