Injured Jones Forced Out of Lions Attack

The intoxicating possibility that England could soon reassemble three of their Ashes-winning fast bowling quartet - following comebacks for Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison with that of Simon Jones - has taken a blow with Jones' withdrawal from the England Lions squad to face South Africa at Grace Road tomorrow.

Jones' selection for the Lions, an England shadow XI, was his first representative call-up since the 2005 Ashes series, and had begun to challenge assumptions that serious injury had ended his England career. The Welshman has pulled out with a "slight hamstring strain," which will take a week to heal and that will scotch suggestions that he can use the match - a warm-up for South Africa for the impending ODI series - to push his case for inclusion on an England winter tour to India.

When Worcestershire signed Jones this season - his previous county Glamorgan had only been prepared to offer him a match-by-match contract - it was described in one quarter as the biggest hospital pass in England cricket transfer history. But Worcestershire sit at the top of the Second Division of the championship and Jones, although he has not taken many top-order wickets, has still made quite an impact with 52 scalps in nine championship matches.

He is replaced in the Lions side by Gloucestershire's Steve Kirby. The Lions, who also face South Africa at Derby on Saturday, include five players in England's one-day squad. Kent's Rob Key captains in Leicester, with Middlesex's Ed Joyce assuming control at Derby two days later.

The captaincy gaining all the attention, though, is that of Kevin Pietersen, with his relationship with England's coach, Peter Moores, a source of much discussion.

Pietersen's lavish praise of his England players at The Oval invited the notion that Moores might now have to become the bad cop to Pietersen's good cop, but he did not see it that way. "I think he can speak openly and be fair," he said. "When you get criticism, as long as its fair and honest, players will always accept it and Kevin can do that. They would take it on the chin and respond to it."

"There will be a case to be supportive, but also there will be times when he will have words with players because that will be the right thing to do at the time. What they will know with Kevin is that he'll be in there scrapping with them, he will put his own neck on the line and he'll get stuck in and go with it and I think they'll respect him for that."

Monty Panesar, criticized for his failure to bowl out South Africa at Edgbaston - the Test where South Africa took the series - has nevertheless moved up to 10th in the latest ICC Test bowling rankings.