Harmison retires from one-day cricket

On a day of high-profile retirements, England have announced one of their own - and it wasn't half as unexpected as that of Shane Warne this morning. Steve Harmison, whose woeful form in the recent ICC Champions Trophy was a continuation of his desperate downward trend in limited-overs cricket, has announced his immediate retirement from ODIs, as England named a 16-man one-day squad to take on Australia and New Zealand in next month's Commonwealth Bank Series.

"After careful consideration and having taken advice from several people who have been close to me throughout my career, I have decided to retire from one-day international cricket with immediate effect," said Harmison in a statement. "This has been a difficult decision but I want to play at the highest level for as long as I can and believe that concentrating solely on Test cricket is the best way forward for me during the next phase of what will hopefully be a long England career."

England's fans will doubtless sympathise but wholeheartedly agree. Harmison has had his moments in coloured clothing, but he has never been especially well-suited to the limited-overs game. His natural rib-tickling length in Tests can, with a marginal erring in line, turn into a typical one-day wide, as was demonstrated so infamously at Lilac Hill in that memorable never-ending over four years ago.

And though he took 5 for 33 in a critical momentum-seizing encounter with Australia at Bristol last summer, Harmison has been on the wane ever since, and his last three performances have been eye-wateringly bad. First there were his figures of 10-0-97-0 at Headingley last summer, as Sri Lanka hunted down a total of 322 with a massive 12.3 overs to spare.

Then there were his twin abominations against India and Australia at Jaipur in October, which were meant to set England's stall out for the winter ahead, but instead set Harmison himself up for that gruesome first spell of this Ashes campaign at the Gabba.

But, whatever the rights or wrongs of this decision, it has further muddied the waters as far as England's one-day selections are concerned. With just three months to go until the World Cup, the squad is as far from being settled as any any other time in the past decade. As had been widely anticipated, Michael Vaughan is back in the line-up for the first time since the tour of India last March.

"He is included subject to fitness," said David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, although with Andrew Flintoff struggling to impose his authority in the Test arena, Graveney added that any decision over the captaincy would rightly be deferred until the end of the Ashes. "Vaughan has made excellent progress with his recovery from injury but we feel that it would not be appropriate to announce the captaincy at this stage."

Meanwhile, Leicestershire's wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, 36, is also back for his first tour since the trip to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000-01. There is a certain irony there, seeing as the man whose position he has usurped, Geraint Jones, is the man who displaced him at Kent at the beginning of the decade. Seeing as Chris Read has been retained in the squad as well, the indications are that Jones's days in the Test side could also be numbered. "I can't wait to get out there," Nixon said. "I'll try to lift a few spirits and try to enjoy it."

As for Monty Panesar - the man whom Duncan Fletcher suggested could not bat or field - he is named in the squad for the first time, a just reward for a player who has done all that has been asked of him and more, and moreover, looks like one of the few matchwinners that England have possessed this tour.

"Monty's experience of one-day cricket is limited," added Graveney, "but he has shown that he is comfortable on the international stage and we view his selection as a bold, attacking move which will strengthen our ability to take wickets." Panesar took eight in the recent defeat by Australia at the WACA, and also contributed with the bat, scoring 16 not out in a 40-run stand for the tenth wicket - England's highest of the first innings.

Of the squad that toured India for the Champions Trophy, there are two absentees - Surrey's Rikki Clarke and Sussex's journeyman, Michael Yardy, whose role as a part-time spinner and No. 4 batsman was widely lampooned as England crashed out of the competition.

But there is one handy inclusion - Hampshire's 6'7" seamer, Chris Tremlett, who was 12th man for four of the five Ashes Tests last summer, but whose career has been plagued by injury ever since. "Chris has made great progress this winter," added Graveney. "He impressed the Academy management during their training camp in Perth, and we believe he has the physical attributes required to be a real threat on Australian pitches in this one-day series.

England one-day squad James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), James Dalrymple (Middlesex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Ed Joyce (Middlesex), Jon Lewis (Gloucestershire), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Paul Nixon (Leicestershire), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Chris Read (Nottinghamshire), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire)