Moores undecided over Vaughan recall

Peter Moores, England's coach, has still not decided whether former captain Michael Vaughan should be brought back to the national side. The England touring party for the West Indies series, which starts next month, will be announced on Monday.

Vaughan, 34, stepped down from the captaincy in the summer and had said he wanted a break from the game. He was awarded a central contract in September and has stated his desire to be a part of the side for the West Indies tour.

He has played little cricket since last July, and missed an opportunity to get some match practice after the England Performance Programme squad's trip to India was cut short after the Mumbai terrorist attack last month.

"Michael has had no cricket," Moores said. "But we have got to look at where we are now as a team and what we think is right to go forward as a batting unit.

"So we will look at those decisions once the dust has settled, get the views of people like (national selector) Geoff Miller, and the views of the side of the camp and make our decisions to announce in the new year.

"But we do know in Michael we have someone who is outstanding as an individual and is also a fantastic player. We have to weigh all that up about the players we've got in the squad at the moment."

Vaughan and Middlesex batsman Owais Shah could be competing to take the place of under-pressure Ian Bell, who has managed only one half-century in his last ten Test innings. Shah was England's highest run-getter, making 236 runs at a strike-rate of 102, in their 5-0 one-day series loss to India.

"We left out Owais Shah for the two Tests after doing very well in the one-dayers and is pushing very hard for his Test place," Moores said. "So we have to look at that and pick what we think is the best squad to go to the West Indies and following the West Indies away and at home we've got the big Ashes coming up."

Former captain Nasser Hussain was less ambiguous on the Vaughan issue, writing in the Daily Mail that Vaughan had not done enough to justify a recall. He wrote that Vaughan should be reconsidered for the national team only after he made his case scoring runs for Yorkshire early next season.