Collingwood gets call, Bell left out

Ian Bell is the odd man out of England's winter Test tour to South Africa.

Despite scoring a cool 70 in tricky circumstances on his debut against West Indies at The Oval less than a week ago, Warwickshire's 22-year-old has failed to win a place in Michael Vaughan's squad.

As generally anticipated, Mark Butcher and Robert Key are the batsmen preferred for a five-Test trip.

But if Bell must have been at least half expecting today's news, the man who ought to be reading, and rereading, the list of names several times to make sure his eyes are not deceiving him is Paul Collingwood.

The would be allrounder from Durham finds himself in England's 16-man squad despite a distinctly average and injury interrupted season.

The selectors had suggested that the one obvious gap in their party would be filled by another out and out bowler, such as Kabir Ali, Jon Lewis or Sajid Mahmood.

Instead, they have gone for Collingwood, whose medium pacers are decidedly medium and is much more a front-line batsman.

"We have chosen Paul because we feel that his experience of the international arena and his adaptability will be of real benefit, and enable us to retain the right balance to the side in the event of injury to our one allrounder, Andrew Flintoff," said chairman of selectors David Graveney.