Tim Ambrose will be given an early chance to impress as he bids to make the Warwickshire wicketkeeping position his own.
Ambrose, who joined Warwickshire in the close season from Sussex, has been named in the 12 to play Oxford UCCE in a two-day warm-up game starting in The Parks tomorrow.
The 23-year-old will bat in the top six and keep wicket to an attack that will include Heath Streak and James Anyon, Warwickshire's likely new-ball pair this season.
It would be wrong, however, to read too much into the make-up of a team for what is a warm-up game.
Certainly, it would be premature to write off Tony Frost. The 30-year-old has been a feature of the side for the last two seasons and, having spent much of his career in Keith Piper's shadow, is no stranger to competition.
Those squad members who have enjoyed a fair amount of match practice over the winter - Alex Loudon (A Tour), Michael Powell and Jonathan Trott (New Zealand domestic cricket) and Dougie Brown (Scotland's tour of Barbados) - were not considered, while the remaining players missing out on this occasion will be given other opportunities before the season's start.
Yet the are are a couple of interesting signs. Nick James, the young left-arm spinner who enjoyed a decent under-19 World Cup is given a chance and, in the prolonged absence of Ashley Giles, has a chance to establish himself.
Ian Westwood and the revived Mark Wagh will open the batting, with Nick Knight moving down to No 3, while James Anyon, Adam Shantry and Nick Warren win chances to claim seam bowling spots ahead of Naqaash Tahir and Lee Daggett.
Tim Groenewald will seek to fill Dougie Brown's all-round shoes while Moeen Ali and Jim Troughton battle it out for a place in the desperately competitive middle order.
The Oxford team will be captained by another Warwickshire player, Luke Parker, who will join up with the team at Edgbaston when his university studies are completed.
It was a good day for Parker. He was also a surprise inclusion in the MCC side to play the county champions, Nottinghamshire, in the traditional curtain-raiser for the season at Lord's from Good Friday.
Loudon was also named in that side. That rules him out of Warwickshire's game against Cambridge UCCE which starts the following day and could result in a first-class debut for 19-year-old James.
