Ealham is unspectacular and underestimated, Cork considered physically and temperamentally unsound at present and Hollioake not ready, aged 19 and with only 15 first-class matches behind him, to face the intimidating challenge of the fast bowlers and stroke-players of the Caribbean. England have not won there since 1967/68.
None the less, by not taking a chance with any one of these three, David Graveney, Mike Gatting and Graham Gooch, who chose the squad at Lord's on Monday afternoon, have ensured that Mike Atherton, the captain, David Lloyd, the coach, Nasser Hussain, retained as vice-captain, and Bob Bennett, the manager, will have to settle for only four bowlers or once again omit Jack Russell as wicketkeeper.
Graveney gave a clear indication, when answering questions after he had announced the three touring sides for the winter's cricket at Lord's yesterday, that Russell will not be spending another tour with his paint brushes rather than his bat, pads and gloves. He suggested too that the casualty will be the second spinner, who should be playing if England are to exploit the West Indies' most vulnerable area. If they are fit, Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Dean Headley will be the first-choice bowling attack, supplemented by either Phil Tufnell or Robert Croft.
The return of Russell has to be right. He remains probably the best wicketkeeper in England and certainly one of the hardest men to get out, an entirely convincing number seven in a Test order but not, and here's the rub, a number six. Only if Adam Hollioake were to make a legitimate claim for himself as a viable third seamer in certain conditions would this change. His first duty, however, will be to try to establish himself as a Test batsman.
Atherton, Hussain, Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe are certain to start the series as the core of the batting, so the remaining four, Hollioake, John Crawley, Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher, will be battling for two places, with only two matches to state their case before the first Test.
Butcher was preferred to Nick Knight and Steve James, who are respectively captain and vice-captain on the A tour. Graveney named them as ``obvious batting stand-bys'' in case of injury and added that the prolific James, 30, the subject of ``lengthy deliberation'', could take comfort from the fact that Butcher was promoted to the Test side after a successful A tour last winter.
Angus Fraser is two years older than James and if one is allowed to be a little sentimental it is a delight to see his reward for honest determination to get back into the national reckoning. His figures have been inferior to Peter Martin in the two years since both were left out after the tour of South Africa, however. Martin has made fleeting appearances since but there has not been much to choose between them for some time. Fraser hits the seam accurately; Martin swings it accurately.
I bracket them because of the fact that they are two of the few bowlers in county cricket who can be relied upon to bowl at under three runs an over. Martin's 54 wickets this season have come at 2.27 runs per over and an average of 23. Fraser's 44 wickets have come at 2.6 runs an over and an average of 29. James Hewitt, Fraser's Middlesex opening partner, who has taken 55 wickets in his first full season but does not get an A tour, has been more expensive, at 3.1 runs an over.
Graveney made a point of saying yesterday that the inaccuracy of seam bowlers throughout county cricket concerns him. I believe Martin is more deserving even than Fraser but the selectors are right to look for one experienced and accurate bowler in the West Indies, especially as Caddick's 72 wickets this season have cost three an over, Headley's 3.2 and Gough's 3.3.
It looked as though Fraser and Devon Malcolm were playing their final Test after Cape Town early in 1996. In the event Malcolm was recalled for three Tests against Australia this summer but he has been left out now with an assurance from Graveney that he is not being written off yet, following a conspicuously successful season for a conspicuously unsuccessful Derbyshire.
Ashley Cowan, 22, the only uncapped member of the party, has taken the young fast bowler's place occupied last winter by Chris Silverwood. It would be no surpise if he forces his way into a Test or two because he swings the ball away from an action which makes the very most of his 6ft 4in.