England aiming for double celebration

England's one-day cricket carnival has arrived to join a packed summer of sport, with the NatWest Series kicking off tomorrow. England play New Zealand in the opening floodlit game, the first of three in the ten-match series, at Old Trafford.

England fans will be hoping for a night of double celebration, with their footballers taking on Portugal in their Euro 2004 quarter-final the same night. However, cricket will have to be the focus for fans who have bought a ticket for Old Trafford, as the football will not be shown live at the stadium, either on a big screen or on televisions around the ground.

This year's NatWest Series seems set to run along similar lines as last season's, with two fairly well-matched teams, and one much weaker and more inexperienced. Last year, Zimbabwe were David to the Goliaths of England and South Africa; this time West Indies look the most likely to fill that role. Despite holding England 2-2 at home earlier this year, they are only one position above Zimbabwe in the current one-day ratings.

England, after being so dominant in the Tests against New Zealand, will go into this series without two of their main one-day performers. Marcus Trescothick, who averaged 64.40 against New Zealand's understrength Test attack, sprained his left ankle during fielding practice on Sunday, while Andrew Flintoff has paid the price for his fearsome bowling in the last Test a fortnight ago, picking up an injury to his left foot that will almost certainly keep him out of the whole tournament.

With this in mind, the England selectors have called up Surrey's Rikki Clarke and Michael Powell of Glamorgan, though only Clarke looks likely to start the first match. Trescothick and Flintoff are England's hardest two players to replace - a quality opening batsman with the experience and ability to punish any bowling attack, and an allrounder capable of devastating the opposition with both bat and ball. Trescothick is the highest-rated one-day batsman in this tournament, at No. 5 in the world, while Flintoff has made it to the top of the allrounders' list.

Clarke has been in woeful one-day form this season - he has scored only 64 runs at 16, and taken no wickets from 11 overs which cost 91 runs. Apart from Clarke, England's allround options are thin on the ground, with Anthony McGrath, who seems to have been hanging around the squad for months, the only other candidate for the role. Powell has been instrumental in Glamorgan's one-day success this season, and though he is unlikely to actually make the final XI, his call-up is well deserved.

Robert Key seems the likeliest candidate to open with Michael Vaughan, with Geraint Jones possibly coming in as high as No. 3. Key proved against Glamorgan that he can score quickly and improvise well when required. He has been in excellent county form, and scored a century in each innings for Kent against New Zealand earlier in the season. Sajid Mahmood, the distinctly nippy Lancashire fast bowler, is another with the chance to step onto the one-day stage.

After more than their fair share of injury problems during the Test series, New Zealand may finally have a fully fit squad to pick from for the tournament opener. Daniel Vettori, who has been out of action for three weeks after tearing a hamstring in the field in the second Test, played for MCC against Macclesfield's King's School yesterday. New Zealand had been desperate to give him some match practice before their first game, and provided he suffers no ill-effects, he will be considered for selection.

Despite their poor performance in the Tests, New Zealand are, on paper, favourites for the NatWest Series. Their have been in excellent one-day form recently, with nine victories from their last 11 games, including a 6-1 drubbing of South Africa. New Zealand also have plenty of experience in a squad that contains six players, including Vettori, with more than 100 ODI caps.

New Zealand's trump card is Chris Cairns, a man who is dangerous in Tests, but devastating in one-day cricket. And he has a point to prove after his recent disappointments at Trent Bridge. Chris Harris, who brings with him the experience of 240 one-dayers, will also be vital to New Zealand's cause, both as a steady bowler in the middle overs, and as a clinical finisher, second only to Michael Bevan as the man most effective in leading a run-chase.

Perhaps feeling a bit left out, a number of the West Indian players are now battling minor injuries, the latest addition being Tino Best, who has picked up another leg niggle. Their bowling is raw and aggressive but very inexperienced, and has fired only in fits and starts, but the batting seems finally to have clicked, with Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and, crucially, Brian Lara all in good form. Dwayne Smith has shown glimpses of what he is capable of with some typically breezy knocks, but Ricardo Powell and Chris Gayle are yet to make any real impact on this tour.

In contrast to the well-planned New Zealand approach, West Indies have been rather more laid-back in their preparations for the one-day series. They have proved to be not the best of timekeepers either - they arrived late for their last warm-up game, against Kent, when their coach got stuck in traffic, while Lara himself managed to miss the tournament launch after missing his flight to Manchester.

The bad news is that the rain arrived early in Manchester, to give itself time to settle in before the cricket begins, and the forecast is not great. They might be forced to show the football live at Old Trafford after all.

England (possible): 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Robert Key, 3 Geraint Jones (wk), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Anthony McGrath, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Steve Harmison, 10 James Anderson, 11 Darren Gough.

New Zealand (possible): 1 Nathan Astle, 2 Stephen Fleming (capt), 3 Hamish Marshall, 4 Craig McMillan, 5 Jacob Oram, 6 Chris Cairns, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Chris Harris, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 James Franklin.