England to call former players for World No.1 celebrations

England will invite all the players involved in their journey to the top of Test cricket to attend the celebrations of their feat on the final day of the fourth Test against India at The Oval.

Twenty-three players have represented England at Test level since Andy Flower was appointed full-time coach following the tour of the Caribbean in the spring of 2009. Thirteen of them are in the squad for this game.

In a gesture to thank all those behind England's rise before Flower, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will go back as far as 2007 to compile the list of cricketers, a report in Daily Mail said.

Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar and Ryan Sidebottom are expected to be included among those not playing in the current series.

The invitation is also supposed to have been extended to the players' wives and girlfriends, with plans for a day-long event.