England’s erstwhile young hope with the bat, Ravi Bopara, has been dropped from the England Test squad to tour South Africa this winter.

The former number three batsman had a disappointing Ashes series after impressing in the West Indies, and finds himself dropped from both the Test and the one-day squads.

The other big news in the 16-man Test squad sees Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison omitted from the squad in favour of his county colleague, Liam Plunkett, who last played for England in 2007.

"Stephen Harmison has not been included in the Test squad," said ECB National Selector Geoff Miller, "because we feel his form has not been consistent enough over the past 12 months to justify a regular place in the side and we want to give an opportunity to other players to make a case for selection.

"Liam Plunkett has worked hard to improve all aspects of his game since he last played for England and his selection is reward for consistently putting in strong performances for Durham both with bat and ball."

In other news, one-day star Luke Wright may make his Test debut, replacing the now-retired Andrew Flintoff as all-rounder.

Wicketkeeper Steven Davies has been called up as injury cover for Matthew Prior, while Kevin Pietersen is named in the squad despite concerns over his fitness for the tour because of an Achilles problem.

"Kevin Pietersen is making good progress with his recovery from surgery on his injured Achilles," explained Miller. "He will join up with the rest of the squad in South Africa following the first two T20 internationals and his fitness will be reassessed ahead of the one-day series.

"The retirement of Andrew Flintoff," he continued, "has created a vacancy for an all-rounder in the squad, and while we do not see Luke Wright as a like-for-like replacement for Andrew, we are excited by the way in which his all-round game continues to develop and believe he can make an impact at Test level."

As well as Wright and Davies, young leg-spinner Adil Rashid could potentially make his Test debut.

Alistair Cook, meanwhile, has been named vice-captain after Andrew Strauss.

The Test squad in full: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alistair Cook (vice-captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Steven Davies, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Prior, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright.

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