FORMER captain Michael Vaughan was among those snubbed as the first Test squad named in coach Andy Flower’s reign displayed scant regard for reputation.

A bold set of picks for the first npower Test against West Indies at Lord’s highlighted that performances alone will dictate team make-up under Flower.

Ian Bell and Owais Shah were overlooked for failure to hit big scores last winter and Steve Harmison was bypassed in the bowling stakes despite a glut of injuries to potential rivals.

Essex batsman Ravi Bopara has been selected to fill the number three position after hitting a hundred against the West Indians in Barbados last month.

The 12-man party of enterprising choices also includes uncapped pace-bowling pair Tim Bresnan of Yorkshire and Graham Onions of Durham as back-up to the established James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

On the batting front, Vaughan, who is yet to feature in a squad since being handed a central contract last September, was given a chance to lay down a marker for a recall when the selectors delayed this announcement by 10 days – but he mustered scores of 24 and 20 against Durham, then fell cheaply again yesterday.

Bell, 27, was expected to return after hitting the LV County Championship’s first hundred of the season for Warwickshire against Somerset and also registered a oneday century against the same opposition but has been asked to emphasise his desire with a greater weight of runs in domestic cricket.

Shah, the man who displaced him for the final three Tests in the Caribbean, has been consigned to benchwarming in the Indian Premier League and unable to justify his retention with runs for Middlesex.

So Bopara, currently featuring in the IPL, is back after his 104 in a one-off chance at Kensington Oval, and will get a head start in the jockeying for Ashes selection.

‘‘Obviously there are three or four players in with a chance at number three,’’ said national selector Geoff Miller.

‘‘Michael, we need to see get a few more runs in county cricket, Ian Bell has had a tremendous start to the season but we need him to get even more passionate about getting into the side so that when he does get back in, he doesn’t lose his place again.

‘‘We are looking for 11 players to take on the Aussies and this is a chance for Ravi to show what he can do.’’ This first squad of the summer appears to have Flower’s fingerprints on it – he showed on the tour of the Caribbean that he will not indulge coasting and is also understood to be lukewarm to central contracts for the cosiness they promote – and those on the outside now know their challenge ahead.

The clinical selection extends to the make-up of the XI with only five frontline batsmen selected plus wicketkeeper Matt Prior, allowing captain Andrew Strauss to field a five-man bowling unit in a bid to earn 20 wickets and end a six-match streak of drawn Tests at Lord’s.

Bresnan, 24, who has five one-day international caps, was the stand-out bowler for MCC against Durham on the same ground earlier this month while Onions, two years his senior, responded to his elevation by dismantling Somerset’s top order at Taunton yesterday, days after claiming eight wickets in a match against Yorkshire.

‘‘They have bowled very well in pre-season and in the early part of the season,’’ said Miller.

‘‘We have got two or three players who at some stage will be returning from injury and we need strong back-up, which means we need to find out whether one or two other seam bowlers are international quality.

‘‘These two have outbowled the others, so they get their chance.’’

England

Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann.