(LONDON) Alex Tudor has become the third England player in 48 hours to be ruled out of contention to face India in the 1st npower Test at Lord's.

A reassessment of his shin problem revealed he will be out for at least two weeks with tendonitis and the Surrey pace bowler joins England vice-captain Marcus Trescothick and his Somerset colleague Andrew Caddick on the sidelines.

That pair were removed from the equation on Wednesday when Trescothick sustained a fractured thumb in the field against Worcestershire, hours after it was confirmed Caddick's recovery from an intercostal injury had hit a setback.

As a result of that double blow and Tudor's uncertain position, the scheduled squad announcement was postponed from Thursday to Saturday morning’s Channel 4 Cricket Roadshow.

Tudor, man of the match in England's last Test against Sri Lanka a month ago, is now doubtful for the 2nd Test, which starts in Nottingham in just under three weeks.

But he is taking a course of anti-inflammatory tablets and wearing a walking boot to relieve the discomfort in the tendon on the inside of his shin.

It is the latest injury woe to confront Tudor, who is yet to play more than two Tests in a row since making his bow in the 1998-99 Ashes series.

Rest is essential in a bid to return quickly this time and Surrey physio Neil Walker will liaise with England's Dean Conway as his progress is monitored.

That link between Surrey and England has not been so smooth this week with Graham Thorpe left to kick his heels in the current county championship match against Kent at Canterbury.

But chairman of selectors David Graveney has hit back at suggestions that a strained relationship with central office led Surrey to omit England's premier batsman, insisting it is the county championship leaders' prerogative to pick their own XI.

Thorpe, 32, clearly wanted to play, having not batted in a competitive fixture since July 2, but that would have meant dumping impressive young all-rounder Rikki Clarke.

Thorpe will go into next week's 1st Test relying on numerous net sessions for practice.

But Graveney said: ``Our relationship with Surrey is, and has always been good.

``Due to Surrey being currently the major provider of players for the England cricket team there is more dialogue with them than with any other county.

``Obviously we would have liked Graham to have batted over the weekend.

``But we have no jurisdiction over Surrey's selection policy and fully understand their reasoning for leaving Thorpe out.

``We know that they are a team attempting to win a county championship and do not want to be shuffling people in and out of the starting XI unduly”.

And commenting on the selections problems over England’s bowling attack for Lord’s, Graveney added: ``With Caddick out, it is particularly important for us that Darren Gough gets through his first four-day game since coming back after knee surgery.

``He seemed a lot more confident after the C & G Trophy match against Essex.

``Now he needs time in the field to see that there is no reaction to an increased workload. This four-dayer will be a good test for him.''

John Crawley is likely to take the batting position made available by Trescothick's misfortune, having played in the 1st Test against Sri Lanka.

``Although he is arguably not in the form now that he was when selected earlier in the year, he did nothing wrong when in the side and is averaging 70 with the bat. He deserves to be in the squad,'' said Graveney.

Once again it appears that experience will triumph over youth with the 30-year-old Crawley preferred to Ian Bell, 20, of Warwickshire, Graveney pointing out that the academy player `has not made a 50 of late' in the first-class game.

And Craig White is another thirty-something who could be recalled, supplementing fellow all-rounders Andrew Flintoff and Dominic Cork in an expected 13-man party.

``The wickets we have seen at Lord's this summer have been reasonably flat and so we will have to assess the conditions and ensure we have options within the squad,'' said Graveney.

``The dryness of the pitch may offer more help to Craig White's off-cutters over Dominic Cork's away-swingers. But ultimately much depends on the weather.

``White also made a century recently against India and his batting would be very useful in the lower middle order.''

19 Jul, 2002