VADODARA: After shadow-boxing with the CCI youngsters over three days in Mumbai, England will take on the Board President's XI at Vadodara. The three-day match at IPCL stadium is classified as a first-class game for the visitors. The competition from a bunch of energetic young men, captained by Vengugopala Rao, is nothing short of `A' class. The home team will follow the Indian Test formula of five batsmen, five bowlers, apart from wicketkeeper Dinesh Kaarthick.

Michael Vaughan, skipper of the England team touring India this summer, will be facing an virtual India A team. The tussle for places from within is such that before naming the playing eleven, selectors chairman Kiran More (doubling up as Board President's XI coach) is opting for feedback from four other selectors on the national panel before naming the playing eleven. Sanjay Jagdale, Ranjib Biswal, V Chandrasekhar and Bhupinder Singh are the other four selectors arriving on Thursday.

England's pace battery of Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Stephen Harmison, will be up against specialist batmen for whom the tour game against the Englishmen is a rare opportunity to impress Indian selectors. Wasim Jaffer and Dheeraj Jadhav will compete for openers slot with Gautam Gambhir. The home team captain Rao, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath will be vying for vacancy in the Indian middle-order created due to Yuvraj Singh's hamstring injury.

Heavyweights

For England batting heavyweights like Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Vaughan and Flintoff, the BP XI attack has the ability to pose problems on an IPCL wicket reputed to be a sporting track. S. Sreesanth will be main prong of the pace attack, energised by the Pakistan tour experience, along with Indian probables Vikram Raj Vir Singh and Munaf Patel. Bengal's Shib Shankar Paul is the fourth alternative.

The real test for England batsmen, tentative against spin, will come from BP XI slow bowlers Ramesh Powar (off-spin), Amit Mishra (leg-spin) and Pragyan Ojha (left-arm spin). Selectors chairman and coach More hinted at two tweakers in the squad, in which case Powar and Mishra may get the nod, capable of decisive spells on any wicket and devastating on helpful tracks.

England may rest Shaun Udal and Simon Jones, both down with stomach problems. Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell, the two left-arm spinners, have caught the stomach bug but came out for training at the IPCL. "Our pace bowlers will rise to the next level, since this is the only first-class game before the Test series," said Steve Harmison, determined to do his best without worrying about the wicket or quality of opposition.

The teams (from):

England: Michael Vaughan (capt), Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones, Monty Panesar, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Prior, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick, Shaun Udal, Simon Jones. Coach: Duncan Fletcher.

Board President's XI: Venugopala Rao (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Dheeraj Jadhav, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, S. Badrinath, Dinesh Kaarthick (wk), V.R.V. Singh, Munaf Patel, S, Sreesanth, S,S, Paul, Ramesh Powar, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha. Coach: Kiran More

Umpires: A.V. Jayprakash and Amit Sahiba.

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