England Announce Line-Up for Stanford Super Series

No massive surprises were recorded when England named their squad for the upcoming Stanford Super Series 10 million pound match against a West Indian XI. They have named virtually the same squad that prevailed 4-0 over South Africa in the NatWest ODI series. Many people had been wondering whether Ryan Sidebottom (reigning English Player of the Year) would be fit enough to make the trip and, barring a recurrence of his hip or groin problems, he should be terrorizing West Indian batsmen with his seam-bowling prowess. The usual suspects Flintoff, Pieterson, Cook, Strauss, Belly and Collingwood are all jumping on the plane. However, I have a distinct feeling that one of the biggest question marks will be over ICC Emerging Player of the Year-nominated Stuart Broad's potential for performance. I am convinced that this high-profile match could prove to be a real turning point for Broad who is in a rich vein of form having bowled an unbelievable 5/23 during his last appearance in a multi-coloured English jersey. I firmly believe that the match's Twenty20 format will play directly in the hands of Broad and Siders and I expect them both to attack the wicket with relish. Another question mark had been over whether Stuart Harmison would continue his International career having retired from limited-overs matches for England following the 2006-7 Ashes series. The news today confirmed that he will be continuing his career, having come out of retirement for the recent NatWest series against South Africa. Both his experience and right arm will be integral to England's chances of bringing home the spoils of cricket's biggest payday. The rewards from this match can't be understated, but everybody is hoping that the true winner of this match is cricket itself. With the limited-overs format rapidly gaining the attention of sportsfans who have never heard of googlies, bouncers or Duckworth/Lewis, the increased profile of cricket is set to accelerate across international markets as Sir Stanford's millions draw more and more eyeballs to the game. England Line-Up: KP Pietersen (captain, Hampshire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), IR Bell (Warwickshire), RS Bopara (Essex), SCJ Broad (Nottinghamshire), PD Collingwood (Durham), AN Cook (Essex), A Flintoff (Lancashire), SJ Harmison (Durham), SR Patel (Nottinghamshire), MJ Prior (wicketkeeper, Sussex) OS Shah (Middlesex), GP Swann (Nottinghamshire), RJ Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), LJ Wright (Sussex).