Anthony McGrath is hoping to exchange the grey chill of an English winter for the blue skies of South Africa after being surprisingly included in England's provisional squad of 30 for the World Cup, which starts in February.

The 27-year-old Yorkshire batsman joins Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, Craig White, Richard Dawson and Ryan Sidebottom on the list.

England will prune their squad to 15 by December 31, and although McGrath must be an outsider he will be in with a chance if any front -line batsmen have to pull out.

McGrath has the satisfaction of knowing that he is now on the fringes of an England place and could be part of their future plans.

"My selection has come as a complete surprise and I am absolutely delighted," he said.

"The first I knew about it was when I received a message on my answer phone from England chairman David Graveney asking me to get in touch.

"I just hadn't a clue what it was about.

"After playing for England A, I have been out of the selectors' minds for the past two or three years, but this is a nice reminder that I am still in the frame.

"If I make good progress with Yorkshire next season and also show some consistency then I could be in with a shout."

Provisional England World Cup squad: N Hussain (Essex), M Trescothick (Somerset), N Knight (Warwickshire), M Vaughan (Yorkshire), O Shah (Middlesex), A Stewart (Surrey), R Irani (Essex), P Collingwood (Durham), A Flintoff (Lancashire), C White (Yorkshire), I Blackwell (Somerset), J Snape (Leicestershire), A Giles (Warwickshire), A Caddick (Somerset), M Hoggard (Yorkshire), J Kirtley (Sussex), R Key (Kent), D Stevens (Leicestershire), V Solanki (Worcestershire), A McGrath (Yorkshire), M Maynard (Glamorgan), A Hollioake (Surrey), C Read (Nottinghamshire), R Dawson (Yorkshire), M Saggers (Kent), K Hogg (Lancashire), K Ali (Worcestershire), S Harmison (Durham), R Sidebottom (Yorkshire), J Anderson (Lancashire).

* Yorkshire's future was secured over the weekend when members voted overwhelmingly in favour of new draft rules which will abolish the general committee and replace it with a management board, which has the backing of the club's bankers.

Now Yorkshire can concentrate on their long-term plans for Headingley, which chief executive Colin Graves says he wants to turn into the "Lord's of the North".

Members also learned at the extraordinary general meeting at Headingley of closer co-operation with Paul Caddick, chairman of Leeds CFAC, who own the ground.

They also heard Graves criticise the club's Australian coach Wayne Clark for his remarks in an end-of-season diary which has appeared in a monthly cricket magazine.

Clark still has a year of his three-year contract to run, but it may be that Cope has been talking with him in Australia about his future as he has with Darren Lehmann.