Tuesday, 7th August 2007 at 11:17 am

Luke Wright amongst England surprises

Feverpitcher has been predicting a few surprises amongst the squads announced for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa next month, and England have duly delivered on our expectations. A 15-man squad led by Paul Collingwood includes Luke Wright (pictured), leading scorer in England’s domestic Twenty20 competition, with a 45-ball hundred amongst his achievements; Chris Schofield, who was reduced to playing Minor Counties cricket last season; and Jeremy Snape, the elderly pseudo-off-spinner still remembered affectionately in Cape Town as ‘The Ale Lord’.

Throw in Andrew Flintoff, death bowling specialist James Kirtley, and the big-hitting Darren Maddy, and you’ve got the makings of a decent England squad; you’ve also got confirmation that, much as we’ve seen in the Standard Bank Pro20 (the inspiration for the Twenty20 World Cup), there’ll be a different look to most of the squads packed off to South Africa.

But will there be a different look to the home team? Andrew Hall, Andre Nel and Justin Ontong are amongst those banished to Zimbabwe for the ‘A’ team tour under Boeta Dippenaar, and thus seemingly unlikely to play in the 20-over tournament; players like Loots Bosman, Goolam Bodi and Albie Morkel suggest themselves as likely contenders. Feverpitcher awaits with interest to see who crack the nod; in the mean time, your suggestions will be most welcome below…