Trott and Sidebottom get England call

England have called up uncapped Warwickshire batsman Jonathan Trott as possible cover for all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for this week's fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.

Concerns over Flintoff's troublesome right knee have prompted the selectors to consider their options if he fails to recover in time for Friday's Test - including the prospect of playing Trott as one of six specialist batsmen.

Trott has been included in a 14-man squad with left-arm spinner Monty Panesar dropping out of the squad from the drawn third Test at Edgbaston while left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom has been called in for the first time in this npower series.

"In choosing our squad for this Test, we decided to omit a second spinner as Headingley is not usually a ground where two spinners are required and therefore Monty Panesar misses out on selection this time," explained national selector Geoff Miller.

"We will need to carefully assess the pitch and the overhead conditions at Headingley before finalising our 11 for this Test and the inclusion of Steve Harmison and Ryan Sidebottom will give us different types of pace bowling options.

"Both players have been in good form for their counties in recent weeks and as selectors we are delighted that competition for places in the side is so strong."

Harmison has been included despite suffering blistered feet during Durham's championship win over Sussex at Chester-le-Street last week, but the biggest fitness concern again surrounds Flintoff.

He has needed injections to get through the last two matches in his final series before retiring as a Test cricketer and his availability is expected to be the deciding factor in whether England strengthen their batting line-up by adding Trott.

The full squad for the fourth npower Ashes Test against Australia, which starts at Headingley on Friday:

AJ Strauss (Middlesex, capt) Age 32 Tests 64, AN Cook (Essex) 24 46, RS Bopara (Essex) 24 9, IR Bell (Warwickshire) 27 47, PD Collingwood (Durham) 33 51, MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt) 27 21, A Flintoff (Lancashire) 31 77, SCJ Broad (Nottinghamshire) 23 20, GP Swann (Nottinghamshire) 30 10, JM Anderson (Lancashire) 27 40, G Onions (Durham) 26 4, SJ Harmison (Durham) 30 60, RJ Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire) 31 21, IJL Trott (Warwickshire) 28 0.