Harmison doubt for England opener

Steve Harmison is a fitness doubt for England's first Stanford Super Series game against Middlesex on Sunday.

The paceman is still struggling with the fractured wrist he suffered in Durham's final game of the season when they won the County Championship.

"Steve has a little niggle which we will take advice on, and he also felt a bit sick - just some tummy trouble," said England coach Peter Moores.

"We will speak to the doctor and see what he says."

Middlesex will be captained by veteran ex-England off-spinner Shaun Udal, who was confirmed as skipper for 2009 by the county on Saturday.

They will also include England batsman Andrew Strauss, a Test regular who has found himself out of the one-day squad in the last year, while Middlesex and England batsman Owais Shah may play for his country against his county.

Having eased past South Africa under new captain Kevin Pietersen in the recent one-day series, England are unlikely to make too many changes, although the doubt over Harmison could hand Ryan Sidebottom the chance to press his claim for the series - which concludes with the much-anticipated $20m match against the Stanford Superstars.

Sidebottom struggled with a few injuries towards the end of the season, but Moores said: "He hasn't had much match practice but he is now physically fit enough to bowl off his full run.

"The shape of the side will be pretty similar [to the South Africa series] but it is a chance for us to look at different things.

"You look at the ground, the balance of spin against pace, whether we need extra batting, etc etc. Over the week we will get an idea of what suits the pitch and conditions best.

"We have got a pretty versatile squad. In the summer we played the four heavy seamers, we have also got someone like Graeme Swann, who is a very talented off-spinner and so we will see which way we go tomorrow after a chat with Kevin.

"But everybody is fresh and raring to go."

England (from): Kevin Pietersen (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom, Luke Wright.

Middlesex (from): Shaun Udal (capt), Andrew Strauss, Billy Godleman, Neil Carter, Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan, Neil Dexter, Tyron Henderson, Ben Scott, Tim Murtagh, Murali Kartik, Steven Finn.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).
TV umpire: Steve Davis (Australia).
Fourth umpire: Simon Taufel (Australia).