David Graveney Jon Quotations

Darren asked the selectors not to consider him for the tour of Pakistan for personal reasons and we respected his wishes. With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan and Simon Jones now available for selection again, the selectors feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible ahead of the World Cup.

Jon Lewis and Stuart Broad have both shown fine early-season form for their counties and I'm sure they will be keen to make the most of this opportunity against Sri Lanka.

With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan, and Simon Jones now available for selection again, the selectors feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible ahead of the World Cup and as a result Darren misses out.

Until they go through fitness tests it's impossible to know if they are totally right. If you remember, we all thought Simon Jones would be fit to play at the Oval and he didn't.

James Anderson has big match experience with England and we feel that his inclusion in the squad will give the captain and coach another bowling option in the event of Simon Jones being unfit to play.