ECB announces 15-man squad for controversial series

Steve “Homesick” Harmison can count himself very lucky to make England’s squad for the $20m Stanford Twenty20 Super Series.

Harmy came out of one-day international retirement to play against the Saffers recently - he bowled well, too. However, cynics claim the fast bowler only did so to improve his chances of a sniff at the $1m bonus each England player stands to receive if they beat Viv Richards’ Stanford All-Stars on November 1.

Let’s give Harmy some credit here:

a) The ECB asked him to play

b) Cricketers earn peanuts compared to many pro sportsman - who wouldn’t want a sniff of a $1m bonus for a few overs’ work?

For what it’s worth, Applause thinks Harmison won’t actually make the starting XI - although as one of the four squad reserves, he’d still pick up $250,000 if England win.

The full England squad, which will also contest the one-day series in India this winter, reads as follows:

Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire) capt, James Anderson (Lancashire) Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) Stephen Harmison (Durham), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Matt Prior (Sussex) Owais Shah (Middlesex), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Luke Wright (Sussex)

Bit of a surprise to see Alistair Cook chosen for a Twenty20 squad - he’s hardly the type of slogger suited to the shortest version of the game.