Having chosen to field two spinners in both their warm-up matches and the Stanford showdown in Antigua, the tourists decided to rely on Samit Patel for their slow-bowling option with Jimmy Anderson being recalled to replace Graeme Swann.

But the biggest surprise was recalling Essex's Ravi Bopara for the first time since the opening match of the one-day series against South Africa as a replacement for Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright.

"Ravi has earned his recall," explained captain Kevin Pietersen. "He's been on the sidelines for a lot of the cricket we've played for the last however long.

"I'm a big Ravi Bopara fan on these wickets and we wanted to give him a go - I think he's so exciting.

"He's a very quick learner, he wants to learn and he's also willing to ask questions. He's really impressed me in the short term I've been captain and also when I've played alongside him as a player."

Bopara's call-up brings an end to a successive run of 14 consecutive one-day internationals for Sussex all-rounder Wright, who Pietersen admitted had "done nothing wrong", but he believes Bopara is a better bet on Indian wickets.

Today's changes also signalled England's intent to stick with the same formula that secured a stunning 4-0 home success over South Africa at the end of last summer.

During that series, England excelled using four specialists seamers - Stuart Broad, Anderson, Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff - alongside Patel's spin and supplemented by the medium pace of Wright and Paul Collingwood.

Bopara is likely to be asked to help out with his share of bowling, although England's plans have been boosted by Broad successfully coming through a fitness test this morning on a sore knee that forced him to be rested for Tuesday's humbling defeat by a Mumbai XI.

England: IR Bell (Warwickshire), MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt), OA Shah (Middlesex), KP Pietersen (Hampshire, capt), A Flintoff (Lancashire), PD Collingwood (Durham), SR Patel (Nottinghamshire), RS Bopara (Essex), SC Broad (Nottinghamshire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), SJ Harmison (Durham).

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