Squads to tour India announced

Durham pace bowler Liam Plunkett has been selected in the Test and one-day squads

The England selectors have named a 15-man Test squad and a 16-man one-day squad for the forthcoming tour of India.

Durham pace bowler Liam Plunkett, who made his Test and one-day debuts in Pakistan, has been included in both parties for the first time.

Warwickshire’s Ian Bell also wins a place in both squads following the omission of Worcestershire’s Vikram Solanki from the one-day squad.

Warwickshire’s Ashley Giles and Hampshire’s Shaun Udal have been selected as spin bowlers in the Test squad, with a third spinner set to be added to the tour party before the team departs on February 12.

Spinner Shaun Udal has kept his place

Lancashire seamer James Anderson and Warwickshire’s Alex Loudon are the players omitted from the Test squad which toured Pakistan before Christmas, but Anderson has retained his place in the one-day squad.

Commenting on the selection, chairman of selectors David Graveney said: “In choosing our Test squad, we wanted to show faith with the same group of players who have performed extremely well for England over the past two years.

"Although we lost the series, there were some encouraging individual performances from players who are new to Test cricket and we are keen to continue their development.

“With regard to injured players, Michael Vaughan and Ashley Giles both underwent operations before Christmas and their rehabilitation programmes are progressing according to plan.

"We do, however, intend to name an additional spinner in the Test squad once we have had an opportunity to further re-assess Ashley’s fitness nearer to the time of our departure for India.

Glamorgan pace bowler Simon Jones has recovered from ankle surgery © Getty Images

“We are delighted that Simon Jones has recovered from ankle surgery and he will fly out to India on January 26 to spend 10 days at the MRF Fast Bowling Academy together with two members of the ECB National Academy Squad, Mark Footitt and Sajid Mahmood. It’s an ideal opportunity for him to bowl outdoors and acclimatize ahead of the tour.

“Liam Plunkett has made a promising start to his international career and is an emerging player with great potential. Ian Bell has also been named in both squads as we believe his ability to bat in the top order will give us another option as we continue to plan for the World Cup in 2007.

“Vikram Solanki will be disappointed not to make the trip to India but he is still part of our plans for the future and is one of a number of players on the fringes of selection for the one-day squad.

“Darren Gough asked the selectors not to consider him for the tour of Pakistan for personal reasons and we respected his wishes.

"With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan, and Simon Jones now available for selection again, the selectors feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible ahead of the World Cup and as a result Darren misses out.”

England Test squad to tour India

• Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt)
• Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
• Paul Collingwood (Durham)
• Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
• Ashley Giles (Warwickshire)
• Stephen Harmison (Durham)
• Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire)
• Geraint Jones (Kent)
• Simon Jones (Glamorgan)
• Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
• Liam Plunkett (Durham)
• Matthew Prior (Sussex)
• Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
• Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)
• Shaun Udal (Hampshire)

England one-day squad to tour India

• Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt)
• Kabir Ali (Worcestershire)
• James Anderson (Lancashire)
• Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
• Ian Blackwell (Somerset)
• Paul Collingwood (Durham)
• Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
• Ashley Giles (Warwickshire)
• Stephen Harmison (Durham)
• Geraint Jones (Kent)
• Simon Jones (Glamorgan)
• Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
• Matthew Prior (Sussex)
• Liam Plunkett (Durham)
• Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
• Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)

England's tour dates:

• Feb 12: Depart London Heathrow
• Feb 13 - Arrive in Mumbai
• Feb 18-20 - three-day practice match, CCI Mumbai (involving all England players in the squad)
• Feb 23-25 - three-day first class match, Baroda v President's XI
• March 1-5 - 1st Test, Nagpur
• March 9-13 - 2nd Test, Mohali
• March 18-22 - 3rd Test, Mumbai
• March 25 - one-day tour match, Jaipur
• March 28 - 1st ODI, Delhi
• March 31 - 2nd ODI, Faridabad
• April 3 - 3rd ODI, Goa
• April 6 - 4th ODI, Cochin
• April 9 - 5th ODI, Guwahati
• April 12 - 6th ODI, Jamshedpur
• April 15 - 7th ODI, Indore