Croft and Ealham recalled

Robert Croft returns after an 18 month Test exile

Glamorgan's Robert Croft and Kent's Mark Ealham are the surprise names in the England squad named for Thursday's first Test against West Indies at Edgbaston.

Off-spinner Croft, who has been out of the England side for 18 months, is recalled because of the likelihood that the West Indies will field six left-handers in their batting line-up.

"I felt during the last six weeks of last season that I was bowling as well as I ever had and it's carried on from there this season," commented Croft.

"I've only played one Test against the West Indies in Guyana in 1998 - but I did get six wickets in the match, including Brian Lara."

Ealham, predominantly a one-day player for England, has not figured for England for two years in the Test arena, but is recalled because of uncertainties over the ability of Andrew Flintoff at this level.

"Mark Ealham can provide more variation to our bowling attack as a swing bowler, but our final choice of line-up will depend on our assessment of the pitch and the weather condition," explained chairman of selectors David Graveney.

Temptation

But otherwise, England have kept faith with the 12 players selected for the drawn Test against Zimbabwe a fortnight ago with the selectors resisting the temptation to recall Yorkshire batsman Michael Vaughan.

We've chosen 14 players for this Test match because we want to consider all the options available to us.

David Graveney

"We've chosen 14 players for this Test match because we want to consider all the options available to us," added Graveney.

"Robert has been chosen not just because of his performance against the West Indies in last week's tour match, but also because he has bowled well for Glamorgan this summer and rediscovered the attributes that served him well when he first played Test cricket for England."

White and Vaughan

All-rounder Craig White, who collapsed in the street in May ahead of the second test against Zimbabwe, and middle-order batsman Michael Vaughan, who was out of action for a month with a hand injury, have not been included.

"We took a view that Craig White was not ready to be considered for this test match as he has not yet played for Yorkshire since recovering from illness," said Graveney.

"We were pleased to see Michael Vaughan score runs for Yorkshire this week and he is very much in consideration for the future. But he has missed a month through injury and at this stage we feel he needs to play more cricket before he can be considered for England again."

England cricket squad to face West Indies on Thursday at Edgbaston

Nasser Hussain (captain) Age 32; Tests 49 Andrew Caddick 31; 32
Robert Croft 30; 15
Mark Ealham 30; 8
Andrew Flintoff 22; 8
Ed Giddins 28; 3
Darren Gough 29; 38
Stephen Harmison 21; 0
Graeme Hick 34; 56
Nick Knight 30; 14
Mark Ramprakash 30; 40
Chris Schofield 21; 2
Alec Stewart 37; 97