England start Caribbean tour

KINGSTON: England’s tour of the Caribbean begins in earnest today, as they take on Jamaica in their opening match at Sabina Park. And Michael Vaughan is expecting his team to receive a traditional Caribbean welcome, especially with the young fast bowler Jermaine Lawson looking to regain his Test place. “You expect a bit of chin music when you come to these parts,” said Vaughan, whose batsmen have been practising their technique against the short ball in the nets. “When you go to Sri Lanka you practise against spin and when you come to these parts you practise the shorter stuff a bit more.”

But Vaughan was unconcerned at the prospect of taking on the quicks. “We’re used to this sort of bowling more so than facing Murali on dusty pitches in 100 degrees (Fahrenheit) heat,” he added. “It’s going to be hot out here, but the lads are generally used to facing seam and fast bowling.” Lawson is the most high-profile of the Jamaican squad that has been named for the match. He has taken 29 wickets in seven Tests to date, including a match-winning haul of seven for 78 against Australia last May. But he has since been sidelined, partly because of a back injury, and partly because of being reported to the ICC for a suspect bowling action.

“We don’t know a great deal about Jermaine Lawson,” admitted Vaughan, “but he’s obviously had a bit of a rough time and he’s making his comeback so it will be interesting to see how he goes. I’m sure he will be looking to impress and get into the West Indies squad.” England, for their part, are expected to name something approaching their first-choice Test XI, at the venue of the first Test which begins on March 11. But Simon Jones, who is very much in England’s thoughts for that match, is not expected to play since he will not be arriving in the Caribbean until this morning. He is sure to feature in the second warm-up against the Vice-Chancellor’s XI on Friday, assuming his sore shins do not cause him any problems in the meantime.

Teams: JAMAICA (from): Brenton Parchment (capt), Bevon Brown, Shawn Findlay, Danza Hyatt, Lorenzo Ingram, Maurice Kepple, Tamar Lambert, Jermaine Lawson, Dwight Mais, Evon McInnis, Donovan Pagon, Matthew Sinclair, Mario Ventura, Dwight Washington.
ENGLAND (probable): Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Chris Read , Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Matthew Hoggard.