Cricket: Andrew Strauss will take over from the injured Andrew Flintoff as captain of an inexperienced England NatWest Series squad which contains six uncapped players, including Ireland's Ed Joyce.
Flintoff has been advised a four-week rest period is the best current solution - rather than surgery - for his problematic left ankle.
Strauss, who led England in Flintoff's absence for the final stages of their last limited-overs series in India, was the obvious choice to do so against Sri Lanka too once it became clear Michael Vaughan was not yet ready to return to international cricket following his knee injury.
England's young Test batsman Alastair Cook is the only one of the new caps to have full international experience in either form of the game.
The other fresh faces in Strauss' 15-man squad are Yorkshire seamer Tim Bresnan, Lancashire's pace-bowling all-rounder Glen Chapple, Middlesex pair James Dalrymple and Joyce and Warwickshire's Alex Loudon.
Irish-born Middlesex player Joyce qualified for England at the end of last season after helping Ireland qualify for next year's World Cup earlier in the season.
England were forced to look beyond their more tried and tested options because of a raft of injuries - including Simon Jones' knee problem which required surgery in America yesterday and is already likely to rule him out of next winter's Ashes.
But England can welcome Durham pace bowler Steve Harmison back from a shin injury. Chairman of selectors David Graveney accepts it will be no easy task for the new-look squad in the forthcoming five-match series, the Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka or next week's inaugural one-dayer against Ireland.
He said: "This will be a tough test for the team. Our first-choice captain is injured, and his nominated replacement Andrew Flintoff is also unavailable through injury - as are a number of senior players.
"Andrew Strauss will again deputise as captain. He did an excellent job captaining the team in difficult circumstances in India, securing our only win in the series, and will bring his experience of leading Middlesex to the role."
England and Wales Cricket Board chief medical officer Peter Gregory explained the reasoning behind the prescribed rest period for Flintoff, who last week had a scan which revealed bone fragments in the same ankle which required surgery 16 months ago.
He said: "We have taken advice from two leading ankle surgeons who both agree that these (fragments) may not be contributing to Andrew's symptoms and that surgery would cause more trauma and the potential for more scarring and further calcified deposits.
"Hence, our view is that surgery is very much the last resort."
England squad: A Strauss (Middlesex, captain), I Bell (Warwickshire), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), G Chapple (Lancashire), P Collingwood (Durham), A Cook (Essex), J Dalrymple (Middlesex), S Harmison (Durham), G Jones (Kent), E Joyce (Middlesex), A Loudon (Warwickshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), K Pietersen (Hampshire), L Plunkett (Durham), M Trescothick (Somerset)