Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison have been left out of England’s pre-Ashes squad, effectively dashing their hopes of helping England wrestle the little urn from Australia.
Vaughan skippered the side to Ashes glory in 2005, when Harmison was a pivotal bowler for England, but both have struggled in the past four years.
Injuries have hit Vaughan hard, while patchy form cost Harmison his place, and England have opted to leave the pair out of the 16-man party.
Vaughan’s Yorkshire colleagues Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid have been included in the squad, which will come together for a three-day camp later this week, while Andrew Flintoff has been included after proving his fitness with Lancashire.
There is still hope for Harmison who has been included in an England Lions squad to face Australia at Worcester, but coach Andy Flower has given an indication of his likely plans by naming a side to face Worcester in a warm-up game.
Pre-Ashes squad
Andrew Strauss (captain, Middlesex)
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Ravi Bopara (Essex)
Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Paul Collingwood (Durham)
Alastair Cook (Essex)
Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
Graham Onions (Durham)
Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire)
Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
Matt Prior (Sussex)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire)
Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)
England team v Warwickshire at Edgbaston (July 1-3):
Andrew Strauss (captain)
James Anderson
Stuart Broad
Ravi Bopara
Paul Collingwood
Alastair Cook
Andrew Flintoff
Monty Panesar
Kevin Pietersen
Matt Prior
Graeme Swann
England Lions v Australia at Worcester (July 1-4):
Ian Bell (captain, Warwickshire)
Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Steven Davies (Worcestershire)
Steve Harmison (Durham)
Saj Mahmood (Lancashire)
Stephen Moore (Worcestershire)
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)
Graham Onions (Durham)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire)