Anderson misses out as England name Stanford XI
James Anderson dropped by England for $20m Stanford match
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Friday, 31, Oct 2008 10:41
Fast bowler James Anderson is set to miss out on a $1 million (£620,000) windfall after being left out of the England starting XI for the big-money Stanford Super Series finale.
The England selectors have named their team for the 'Twenty20 for 20' fixture in Antigua tomorrow against the Stanford Superstars, which is a winners-take-all match for a total prize fund of £20 million (£12 million).
And Anderson has been dropped from the limited overs team for the money-spinning match - the first time he has missed a limited-overs game this year - because captain Kevin Pietersen believes he needs to employ two spinners.
Anderson's omission means Graeme Swann is included alongside fellow Nottinghamshire spinner Samit Patel, while seamer Ryan Sidebottom has failed to recover from a calf strain and is forced to sit out.
The other two members of the 15-man squad joining the pace bowling pair on the sidelines are Test opener Alastair Cook and all-rounder Ravi Bopara.
Other than the bowling ranks, there is no change to the team from the XI that lined up for the one-day international series against South Africa in the summer - completing a 4-0 win.
Wicketkeeper batsman Matt Prior and Ian Bell will open the batting, with skipper Pietersen at four.
All-rounder Andrew Flintoff has recovered sufficiently from a stomach bug that hit the squad earlier this week to line up at five.
In announcing the team, Pietersen lavished praise on Anderson - saying the decision to leave him out in favour of fellow pacemen Stuart Broad and Steve Harmison "was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make".
"He has taken it brilliantly well, he has been absolutely fantastic at training," Pietersen claimed.
"It has been very difficult for him, especially being an integral part of the team for the past 12 months.
"He has taken the field on every occasion but we realise that we play to win for England and unfortunately the circumstances have arisen in terms of the pitch, and the outfield, and the way games have gone. We have to play another spinner.
"We haven't played a second spinner for I don't know how long but unfortunately conditions have meant Jimmy has to miss out.
"It is not as though the lads have been left out and nothing is going to happen if we win, there is still a buzz about stuff and we all want to win."
Full England team for Stanford Twenty20 finale:
Matt Prior (wicketkeeper)
Ian Bell
Owais Shah
Kevin Pietersen
Andrew Flintoff
Paul Collingwood
Samit Patel
Graeme Swann
Luke Wright
Stuart Broad
Steve Harmison