subject: England Omit Harmison For Sa Tour [print this page] England's selectors signalled the probable end of Steve Harmison's international career as he was left out of the Test squad to tour South Africa. His Durham team-mate Liam Plunkett was given a call-up, along with Steve Davies, Adil Rashid and Luke Wright. Jonathan Trott, the batsman who hit a century on debut, was retained. But Ravi Bopara found himself out of both the Test and one-day squads, with Lancashire fast bowler Sajid Mahmood returning to the shorter format.
The England and Wales Cricket Board said Kevin Pietersen was making "good progress" with his recovery from surgery on his injured Achilles. He will join up with the rest of the squad in South Africa following the first two Twenty20 Internationals and his fitness will be reassessed ahead of the one-day series.
Harmison said in September he would consider announcing his formal retirement from international cricket if England did not give him assurances he would be more than a "bit-part" player. The 30-year-old played in the last two Ashes Tests of the summer with limited success, having been overlooked for the early part of the summer. And, along with one-time number one spinner Monty Panesar, he was not given a central contract a month later, the first clue that his England career was approaching an end.
The one-day squad arrives in South Africa on 1 November, but the first Test does not start until 16 December.
England's 2-1 Test series win in South Africa under Michael Vaughan in 2004-05, their first in that country for 40 years, was the prelude for their Ashes success the following summer. But Andrew Strauss is the only survivor from the touring side of five years ago.
South Africa won the corresponding series in England in the summer of 2008, in which Vaughan tearfully resigned the captaincy.
Test squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex - captain), Alastair Cook (Essex - vice captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (Surrey), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex)
One-day squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex - captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Joe Denly (Kent), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).
by: Sarfaraz Khan
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