London, May 13:

Michael Vaughan has been ruled out of the first Test against the West Indies starting on Thursday, with Andrew Strauss leading the England team in his absence. Selectors on Sunday decided that Vaughan, who broke the middle finger of his right hand batting for Yorkshire against Hampshire on May 3, would not be sufficiently recovered by the start of the Lord’s Test.

Chairman of selectors David Graveney said opening batsman Strauss was chosen as captain ahead of Andrew Flintoff so that the allrounder could concentrate on his own performance rather than tactics.

England are confident that leading batsman Kevin Pietersen will have recovered fully from an injured calf muscle.

Owais Shah has been called up to replace Vaughan, while wicketkeeper Matt Prior will make his Test debut.

Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison, who have both been taking plenty of wickets in the county, are both in the squad and will team up with Flintoff as the pace attack, with Monty Panesar as the only spinner.

Australia scrap Zimbabwe tour

Sydney: Australia’s government on Sunday barred the national cricket team from touring Zimbabwe in September, saying it wanted to avoid giving a propaganda victory to “grubby dictator” President Robert Mugabe. Prime Minister John Howard, who has repeatedly expressed concerns over the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, said his government had taken the decision out of Cricket Australia’s (CA) hands. — AFP