England Announce Squad for 2011 Cricket World Cup

England Announce Squad for 2011 Cricket World Cup

England have revealed their 15-man squad for the upcoming Cricket World Cup. Matt Prior returns as wicket keeper and Stuart Broad is also included.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup, to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is, as usual, a lengthy affair. More a marathon than a tournament, beginning on 19th February and not ending until the final on 2nd April, the winning team will have to show as much endurance as ability to claim the prize.

England Announce World Cup Squad

England, the current World T20 champions, certainly have a chance of adding the 50-over trophy to their cupboard. They were poor at the last World Cup, which was overshadowed by the tragic death of Pakistan's coach, Bob Woolmer. Australia were the eventual champions, their third title in a row.

These days Andrew Strauss's men are a much better one-day side and the squad named today (19th January) will certainly be hoping to continue England's current good form. The major surprise is that Steven Davies, England's wicket keeper in Australia for the ODI series, has been dropped and replaced with the in-form Matt Prior, while Paul Collingwood makes the final 15 despite his recent omission from the one-day side as a result of his scratchy form with the bat. 

England's Final 15-Man Cricket World Cup Squad

A quick run down of the 15 men who will hope to bring more cricketing glory to England

1. Andrew Strauss (c): The captain, and a cert for this list. Strauss has not always been seen as an automatic one-day choice, but he has worked hard at becoming a more expansive player and is now a decent 50-over opener.
2. Matt Prior (wk): It's an about-turn by the selectors to go for Prior ahead of Davies, but his excellent form with the bat and massively improved keeping means he probably deserved the nod. Team director Andy Flower said: "We believe that Matt Prior is best suited to sub-continent conditions." Prior will now replace Davies in the remaining ODIs in Australia.
3. Jonathan Trott: For someone often ponderous and always belligerent at Test level, it's almost strange that Trott is such an effective one-day player too. An automatic choice at this time and a man who can knit together an innings, leaving the next three batsmen to free their arms.
4. Kevin Pietersen: Has found his form again in Australia, which could be ominous for the other teams at the World Cup. An explosive batsman and very handy fielder, any team would be delighted to have him in their line-up.
5. Ian Bell: Another man in excellent form. He could even open the batting for England, but his stroke play and elegance at the crease will earn valuable runs in the middle order.
6. Eoin Morgan: The jewell in England's crown, the Irishman is a phenomenal one-day player, capable of dealing with all kinds of bowling and batting any team out of a game. A match-winner.
7. Paul Collingwood: Retired from Test cricket and dropped from the opening ODI with Australia earlier this week, it appears that Colly's international career is coming to an end. Yet he's still probably the best fielder in the world and it would be unthinkable to drop him completely from the squad at the moment. Does need to find form with the bat, though.
8. Michael Yardy: A real revelation in T20, Yardy's tight, effective bowling and ability with the bat make him a handy all-rounder, particularly on the sub-continent where his spin should nick him a few wickets.
9. Tim Bresnan: Bresnan is going from strength to strength now and could soon be a regular at all forms of the game for his country. A great attitude, a very effective fast bowler and his 28 from 27 balls against Australia at the weekend shows that he can be destructive with the willow too.
10. Graeme Swann: The best spinner in the world will be relishing the chance to winkle out a few on the spinner-friendly wickets of the sub-continent. A fine fielder and also a very decent batsman. Injured at the moment, but should be back in a couple of weeks.
11. James Anderson: England's leading bowler during The Ashes is on a short break at the moment to be with his new baby, but his fine form and ability to lead the England attack makes him a natural for the one-day side.
12. Stuart Broad: Broady will have been delighted at the Ashes series win, but devastated that he couldn't play a bigger part thanks to injury. England need his wicket-taking abilities and will to win. If fit he's likely to start all England's games.
13. Ajmal Shahzad: The quick bowler certainly looked very effective in the recent T20s with Australia has forced his way into the squad. Seems unlikely to make the starting XI at least at first, but looks a very tidy bowler to have in the squad.
14. Luke Wright: His all-round ability with the ball, the bat and in the field has probably seen Wright make the squad, not to mention his excellent attitude, but in truth his form in Australia has not been encouraging. Can be destructive with the bat though.
15. James Tredwell: The Kent spinner could well be called into action if the pitches are turning, but faces stiff competition from Michael Yardy to make the first XI with Graeme Swann.

So that's the England squad. They now have six more handy warm-up games with the Aussies before the World Cup begins.