England Name ICC Champions Trophy Squad

England today announced their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in Sri Lanka in September.

The Yorkshire all-rounder Craig White is recalled to the 14-man one-day squad following his successful return to the Test side at Lord's against India last week.

James Kirtley, Graham Thorpe, who recently retired from one-day international cricket, and Alex Tudor are the players omitted from the squad which contested the NatWest Series earlier in the summer.

England have been paired in the same group (Pool 2) as India and Zimbabwe in the competition. Their opening match is against Zimbabwe on September 18th with the India clash scheduled four days later.

The winners of Pool 2 will face either Kenya, South Africa or West Indies in the semi-final. The final is scheduled for Sunday, September 29th in Colombo.

Commenting on the selection, Chairman of Selectors, David Graveney said: "We do currently have injury concerns with Caddick, Gough and Trescothick and we will continue to monitor their situation in the run-up to the tournament.

"At this stage, we expect them to be fit and there is no question of us sending an under-strength team to compete in this tournament as we regard it as an important part of our preparation for the World Cup.

"But this group of players should not be read as 'the' World Cup squad. We will see how we perform in Sri Lanka and then make a final decision on our World Cup squad after the first batch of One-Day Internationals in Australia in December.

"All the selectors are aware that there are key areas that we still need to improve on in One-Day cricket if we are to compete effectively against the best teams - particularly in our fielding and in our wicket-taking capability."

England ODI Squad - ICC Champions Trophy 2002

1.  Nasser Hussain (Captain)            Essex                   28.3.68
2.  Paul Collingwood                    Durham                  26.5.76
3.  Andrew Caddick                      Somerset                21.11.68
4.  Andrew Flintoff                     Lancashire              6.12.77
5.  Ashley Giles                        Warwickshire            19.3.73
6.  Darren Gough                        Yorkshire               18.9.70
7.  Matthew Hoggard                     Yorkshire               31.12.76
8.  Ronnie Irani                        Essex                   26.10.71
9.  Nick Knight                         Warwickshire            28.11.69
10. Jeremy Snape                        Gloucestershire         27.4.73
11. Alec Stewart                        Surrey                  8.4.63
12. Marcus Trescothick                  Somerset                25.12.75
13. Michael Vaughan                     Yorkshire               29.10.74
14. Craig White                         Yorkshire               16.12.69