England won't tinker with line-up - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

England won't tinker with line-up

England will resist the temptation to use the NatWest one-day series against West Indies as a warm-up event for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament starting in less than a fortnight.

Following Thursday's wash-out at Headingley, England have just two matches remaining in the series before they switch their attentions to the World Twenty20 and their opening match against Holland at Lord's on June 4. But captain Andrew Strauss will not compromise with selection in the next two matches.

Strauss stressed: "I think it's important to compartmentalise each form of the game and pick the best side to play in any given series."

Uncapped Middlesex batsman Eoin Morgan, who has been included in both squads, is one who would benefit from a run-out over the next few days as a possible replacement for Kevin Pietersen, who has been ruled out of the series with an Achilles problem.

Strauss added: "We gained some momentum in one-day cricket in the West Indies. We were a little bit Jekyll and Hyde, up and down, but we came through and won the series and we need two more matches to develop something for the one-day squad.

"Then it goes to the T20 with different players involved again so you need to compartmentalise that and Eoin Morgan is in the squad, so of course there is a chance."

Having claimed an historic victory in the Caribbean earlier this year, Strauss is keen to continue the momentum gained there and from the Test series win over West Indies recently with a minimum of disruption to the line-up.

Yorkshire all-rounder Tim Bresnan will also hope to keep his spot after impressing in the second Test victory in Durham for Sunday's second one-day encounter in Bristol.

"The wickets can alter your thoughts, but we will have to see what it is like down in Bristol," said Strauss. "We still have fairly reasonable ideas of the type of team we want to play in this tournament."

He added: "The T20 is not something I'm involved with, but there are quite a few of the Ashes squad involved in that and if we can get more wins under the belt that will really help us."

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