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England call up cover for injured duo
England called up Rikki Clarke and Michael Powell into their squad on Tuesday for the forthcoming triangular one-day series.
England called up Rikki Clarke and Michael Powell into their squad on Tuesday for the forthcoming triangular one-day series with New Zealand and the West Indies.
Clarke is in to provide back up for fellow all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, while Glamorgan batsman Powell, yet to play international cricket, is in as further cover for opening batsman Marcus Trescothick.
On Monday, England officials said Lancashire star Flintoff was rated no more than fifty-fifty for Thursday's opening match of the series, a day/nighter at his Old Trafford home ground, after suffering pain in his left foot during England's third Test victory at Trent Bridge earlier this month.
Trescothick became an injury concern when he twisted his left ankle during fielding practice in the indoor school at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens on Monday.
The Somerset left-handed opening batsman had an x-ray which an England spokesman said had revealed no fracture merely a sprain but even so he was rated doubtful for Thursday's match.
If he is unfit, Trescothck's most obvious replacement would appear to be Robert Key who made an aggressive 83 in England's warm-up win against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. But Powell, 27, provides another option.
Clarke, 22, who played both his two Tests to date during England's off-season series away to minnows Bangladesh, has also appeared in 16 one-day internationals since making his debut against Pakistan at Old Trafford in 2003.
A useful medium-pace bowler and hard-hitting batsman, as well as an athletic fielder, Clarke has yet to make a major impact at top level and was dropped from England's original 14-man squad for this tournament.
