Borthwick Handed Captaincy As Johnson Cuts Deadwood

As was widely predicted, Steve Borthwick has been named as England captain for next month's tour to New Zealand. Borthwick, who has been capped 37 times by England, recently led the side to victory against Italy in the Six Nations. With Jonny Wilkinson and Phil Vickery both unable to join the 32-man squad because of their respective injuries, Borthwick was the obvious choice to lead Martin Johnson's first England team.

While the tour to New Zealand will be overseen by Rob Andrew (Johnson being unavailable due to complications surrounding his wife's pregnancy), there is no doubt that this selection bears the mark of the new coach. There are six uncapped players included, all of them in excellent recent form in the Guinness Premiership; Topsy Ojo and Danny Care are included in the backs, while Jason Hobson, Dylan Hartley, David Paice and Nick Kennedy are among the forwards.

Two conspicuous absences from the side Brian Ashton's Six Nations' squads are Lesley Vainikolo and Iain Balshaw. Olly Barkley has won a recall while Paul Sackey has been included despite suffering a knee injury when playing for Wasps against Leeds last weekend.

The England squad in full:

Backs: M Brown (Harlequins), P Sackey (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), T Ojo (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), D Cipriani (Wasps), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), P Richards (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins).

Forwards: A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), T Payne (Wasps), M Stevens (Bath), J Hobson (Bristol), L Mears (Bath), D Hartley (Northampton), D Paice (London Irish), S Borthwick (Bath, capt), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Narraway (Gloucester).