Cricket: Andrew Strauss Appointed England Captain for First Test

Andrew Strauss has been named England's captain for the opening npower Test at Lord's against West Indies following Michael Vaughan's failure to recover from a broken finger.

It was not an unexpected decision to choose Strauss, who led England to a 3-0 Test series triumph over Pakistan last summer, particularly after Andrew Flintoff was stripped of the vice-captaincy for the pedalo incident during the ill-fated World Cup campaign.

Chairman of selectors David Graveney explained: "I spoke to both of them and the selectors thought Andrew Strauss did a very good job last summer and at this time we want Andrew Flintoff to concentrate on his batting and bowling and not also have to think about captaining the side.

"It is a purely cricketing decision and I know that Peter Moores as the new coach has already said that every player starts with a clean sheet and the pedalo incident had no relevance to this decision - we were looking at Andrew's current form and allowing him to focus on that."

Strauss' tenure as captain is likely to only last for one Test with Vaughan, who broke his finger fending off a short ball playing for Yorkshire against Hampshire last week, expected to recover in time to lead the side out at Headingley for the second Test starting on May 25.

Graveney continued: "The thing with broken finger injuries is suddenly you can turn a corner with them and at the present stage he can get his hand in the glove and he's doing really well. We just thought it wasn't worth taking the risk. We've cut corners before and this time we just want to take a little more time to get Michael fully fit.

"We don't see it as much of a problem that he hasn't had much cricket and if he is fit he will return at Headingley, but that Test is coming around very quickly after this one."

The other major decision England had to make was over their wicketkeeper. In the end they went for Matt Prior, who has earned his first call-up ahead of 36-year-old Paul Nixon, who performed impressively during the World Cup.

Graveney said: "The wicketkeeping area is one we have spent a long time talking about over the years and there are a lot of contenders out there.
"Matt has been involved in international cricket before and it was a very close call but his capabilities for scoring runs over a period of time for Sussex probably swung the balance in his favour."

Owais Shah provides cover should key batsman Kevin Pietersen fail to recover from a calf injury, while Liam Plunkett won the battle with Lancashire seamer James Anderson for the final seamer's role in the squad having impressed for Durham during the early stages of the season.

Full squad: AJ Strauss (Middlesex, capt) Age 30 Tests 36, AN Cook (Essex) 22 14, IR Bell (Warwickshire) 25 23, KP Pietersen (Hampshire) 26 23, PD Collingwood (Durham) 30 20, A Flintoff (Lancashire) 29 66, OA Shah (Middlesex) 28 1, MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt) 25 0, MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire) 30 62, SJ Harmison (Durham) 28 49, LE Plunkett (Durham) 22 6, MS Panesar (Northamptonshire) 25 13.