You can usually gauge the health of an England cricket team by the length of the selection meetings. In the 2005 Ashes they were over before you could say "same again", with England using only 12 players in the entire series (and the 12th, Paul Collingwood MBE, only got a game because Simon Jones was injured). By contrast, the first half of this winter's Ashes seemed like one neverending selection meeting. Now, amazingly, England's one-day side almost picks itself.
A few weeks ago, the most scientific means of guessing England's World Cup squad might have been to throw 35 names up in the air and pick the first 15. The headline 'England stick with winning one-day formula' seemed about as likely as 'Shane Warne praises Paul Collingwood'. But when the squad was announced today, there was a comforting feeling of knowing exactly what was coming in advance: even the inclusion of Ravi Bopara, ahead of Mal Loye, become more palatable the longer it was allowed to marinate. England's XV comprises 10 of the 11 players who thrashed Australia in the CB Series final - the exception is Loye - plus Bopara and four who would have played but for injury: Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Jon Lewis and James Anderson. No alarms and no surprise, please.
There were only two real decisions for the selectors, the relative unimportance of which is reflected by the fact that any discussion would have centred as much around the players' drinks-carrying abilities as their cricketing aptitude: Sajid Mahmood or Stuart Broad as cover for the new-ball bowlers, and Loye or Bopara. Mahmood was a genuine wicket-taking threat in the CB Series - even if his ODI economy rate still lies the wrong side of 6.00 - while Bopara is a jack of all trades who offers crucial cover for Nos5-7. Loye will feel unlucky, having produced a few mild explosions at the top of the order in the CB Series, but ultimately he was in the side as cover for Vaughan and has now been demoted accordingly.
A personal preference would have been for Loye ahead of Ed Joyce, to offer variety in an identikit top three, but overall it is hard to find fault with England's selection. A few questions remain: does a 15-man squad permit the inclusion of a wildcard, a route Australia have taken with Shaun Tait? What happens to the masterplan if Monty Panesar gets injured? Are England repeating their Ashes mistake by including so many injured players? Will the novelty of Paul Nixon wear off? But with England in such rude health all of a sudden, it would have been rude not to stick with what they know.
Full squad: MP Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), EC Joyce (Middlesex), IR Bell (Warwickshire), AJ Strauss (Middlesex), KP Pietersen (Hampshire), PD Collingwood (Durham), R Bopara (Essex), A Flintoff (Lancashire), PA Nixon (Leicestershire, wkt), JWM Dalrymple (Middlesex), MS Panesar (Northamptonshire), J Lewis (Gloucestershire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), LE Plunkett (Durham), SI Mahmood (Lancashire).
