LIAM Plunkett admitted he was delighted to be one of three Durham players named in the England squad yesterday, but if he is not required in the team he is desperate to continue playing for Durham.

He has been preferred to the Lancashire duo, James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood, for the first Test against the West Indies, starting at Lord's on Thursday.

But there is speculation that England might opt to play the extra batsman in Owais Shah rather than a fourth seamer.

"It's always nice to be picked, but I've had enough of watching cricket during a frustrating winter," said Plunkett.

"If they're not going to have me in the team I hope they release me on Wednesday to play for Durham at Edgbaston.

"I felt I bowled well when we won the one-day series in Australia, but I wasn't given any explanation why they preferred Sajid Mahmood in the World Cup.

"I think they wanted more consistency and I feel I've got that at the moment. If I keep things in a straight line it just feels natural and I'm hitting good areas.

"If you did that in our match against Kent the ball nipped off the seam a little bit. It was a good pitch - it just lacked a bit of bounce."

After missing the last two months of last season with a side injury, Plunkett said: "My aim in the winter when I wasn't playing was to get my fitness in top order. I feel strong now and just want to keep playing.

"I'm also feeling good with the bat. I enjoyed hitting those sixes off Sajid and Freddie Flintoff last Monday and I just got an inside edge on one after getting to 35 against Kent."

Plunkett hit the headlines for some non-cricketing reasons during his frustrating winter.

While at home in Middlesbrough between the Ashes series and the World Cup he was banned from driving, then it was revealed that he had offered a kidney to his father, Alan.

"He's in hospital at the moment and might have to go back for dialysis, but he's due out shortly and the long-term prognosis isn't bad," said Liam.

"He loves watching cricket and he drives me around when he's well enough. I would still give him one of my kidneys, but he won't take it."

There had been speculation that the selectors would leave out Steve Harmison after his poor Ashes series and his decision to quit one-day internationals.

But they couldn't ignore his 24 wickets in three championship games for Durham, who will still hope to see him again after the fourth and final Test against the West Indies at Riverside on June 15-19.

With one-day matches inbetween, there is then a month's gap before the three-Test series against India begins.

Andrew Flintoff has been given the chance to rediscover his form after England insisted disciplinary problems were not a factor in overlooking him as captain for this week's first Test.

The 29-year-old Lancashire all-rounder was named yesterday in a 12-man squad as he attempts to recover his status as the world's number one all-rounder.

He will begin that quest at Lord's without the responsibility of leading the side after the selectors chose to appoint Andrew Strauss as captain following Michael Vaughan's failure to recover from a broken finger.

It was not an unexpected decision to choose Strauss, who led England to a 3-0 Test series triumph over Pakistan last summer, particularly after Flintoff was stripped of the vice-captaincy for the pedalo incident during the World Cup campaign.

But England's choice will still be regarded as a setback to the proud Lancastrian after new coach Peter Moores insisted every player was to begin from scratch again at the start of this summer.

Chairman of selectors David Graveney explained: ''I spoke to both of them and the selectors thought Andrew Strauss did a very good job last summer and at this time we want Andrew Flintoff to concentrate on his batting and bowling.

''It is a purely cricketing decision and the pedalo incident had no relevance. We were looking at Andrew's current form and allowing him to focus on that.''

Strauss' tenure as captain is likely to only last for one Test with Vaughan expected to recover in time to lead the side out at Headingley for the second Test starting on May 25.

Moores' experience of working with Matt Prior both at Sussex and the Academy seems to have earned the latter his first call-up ahead of 36-year-old Paul Nixon, who performed impressively during the World Cup.