Cricket: West Indies Test Series: England to Go With Jones in Pace Race

The phone lines to the Graveney household in Bristol have been pretty busy since Christmas. David Graveney has been in regular touch with Cape Town (Duncan Fletcher), Adelaide (Rodney Marsh) and Chesterfield (Geoff Miller), in addition to Graham Thorpe's mobile, as the four selectors prepare to announce their 16 for the West Indies tour today.

The calls to Thorpe became necessary after he and his former wife were involved in an incident at her home on Boxing Day, and it is understood that Graveney got the assurances he required about the Surrey batsman's state of mind and his determination to make the trip.

That Thorpe has again made all the right sounds will have come as music to the selectors' ears. Because of the reshuffling of the international calendar, it is six years since England visited the West Indies and only three of the batsmen in the likely party this time have toured there before.

The other two are Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain, and because Michael Vaughan will need some old heads around him there is unlikely to be room on the plane for Andrew Strauss - that is if the Middlesex captain and opening batsman was ever considered in the first place.

Despite their collective failure in Sri Lanka before Christmas, Fletcher dropped a huge hint then that England would stand by their experienced men when he said Hussain was "as keen as ever to play" and added: "You can't mess with Test cricket."

But if the batting is predictable, there is likely to be a series of necessary changes on the bowling side and here England seem ready to take a calculated gamble, even if it is an each-way bet, to introduce some kind of penetration into the attack.

It is now 14 months since Simon Jones damaged the cruciate ligaments in his right knee fielding in Brisbane, but word from Glamorgan is that the 25-year-old has recovered well, was able to bowl off a limited run-up last season and is ready to go.

England are desperate to field a bowler of real pace, but to verify those claims of total recovery Jones is likely to be sent with England A when they compete in India's zonal competition, the Duleep Trophy, which starts on February 14.

If he passes muster, he could fly to the Caribbean in time for the first warm-up match on March 5, six days before the first Test in Jamaica.

In international terms Jones is still a novice, but increasingly it seems that extremes of pace or spin are necessary to win Test matches. So to have a bowler who can match the speed of the new West Indian quick, Fidel Edwards, would be nice. To have two would be even nicer.

Stephen Harmison left the pre-Christmas England tour in Bangladesh complaining of back problems, which did not endear him to senior members of the squad. But, like Jones, he has worked well at the national academy at Loughborough and teamed with the Glamorgan quick would make an inspiring sight, especially if his radar has also been sorted.

However, as Angus Fraser (32 wickets at 19.28) proved the last time England were in the Caribbean, speed is not everything and England will also need someone to whom they can turn if Jones and Harmison have difficulty hitting the cut stuff in the right places.

Andrew Caddick, at 35, is being lined up to join Jones in India, but that appears to be more a case of the ECB going through the motions.

The heart, and his bowling against South Africa, suggest Martin Bicknell, who will also be 35 next week, but the choice is more likely to be Richard Johnson. James Anderson has to travel to continue his learning process, which means that Matthew Hoggard and James Kirtley will stay at home - although in Kirtley's case it is safe to assume he will receive an emergency phone call sooner or later.

Andrew Flintoff can again expect to get through his share of bowling and, because of the lack of alternatives, the spin side takes care of itself.

With Caribbean wickets coming to resemble something from the subcontinent, Ashley Giles is again likely to be the key bowler, especially as West Indian batting continues to be dominated by left-handers. Despite modifications to his bowling action Giles still seems happier bowling over the wicket, so chucking it into the rough outside a left-hander's off stump should be a piece of cake.

With Robert Croft retiring from Test cricket to concentrate on the Glamorgan captaincy, the second spinning spot seems to be Gareth Batty's, although Gary Keedy of Lancashire may be a long shot.

Kent's Geraint Jones understudied Chris Read as wicketkeeper pre-Christmas without getting a Test, but their roles may be reversed come March if England conclude that Read's batting is too unorthodox to balance the Test side at No7.

Graveney said: "We're going to be announcing a squad which is seven weeks away from departure, which will allow us to work with the whole squad and monitor them at Loughborough."