Butcher injured, Key secures spot

The kid stays in the picture. Robert Key will play in the second Test against the West Indies, at Edgbaston starting Thursday. No, it is not his recent double hundred that has sured his place, but rather the news that Mark Butcher is injured again.

Butcher (31), who missed the first Test due to injury in a car crash, was set to give the England selectors a pretty conundrum as his replacement Robert Key smacked 221 in the Test. That would have likely meant the selectors made to choose between Butcher - a proven and consistent batsman for England - and Key - an international failure previous to his big innings.

However, things are now much simpler as Butcher has sustained a thigh injury while lifting a box around the house on Sunday. As such, he was not included in the squad for the second Test.

[B]2nd Test squad:[/B]
Michael Vaughan (C), Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Robert Key, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones (wk), Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Stephen Harmison, James Anderson.

Posted by Liam