LONDON: Michael Owen was overlooked once again by England manager Fabio Capello when the squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus was announced on Sunday.

Capello admitted the Newcastle striker had given him a decision to make by scoring three goals in his last four matches. But the Italian boss overlooked him for the second round of qualifiers for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, opting to stick with Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey and Jermain Defoe and bring in the latter’s Portsmouth team-mate Peter Crouch, who has scored four in his last three games.

In their opening fixtures in qualifying Group Six, England beat Andorra away in Barcelona 2-0 on September 6 before walloping group favourites Croatia 4-1 away in Zagreb four days later. In changes from the squad selected for those games, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, back from a groin injury, returns to the England midfield ranks, while Joe Cole, injured in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa on Sunday, misses out.

Fellow midfielders Jimmy Bullard of Fulham and Tottenham’s David Bentley are replaced by Crouch and Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. West Bromwich goalkeeper Scott Carson replaces calf-injury victim Paul Robinson of Blackburn.

Owen, 28, has scored 40 goals in 89 full internationals, making him England’s fourth-greatest goalscorer of all time, nine short of Bobby Charlton’s record. But Capello hinted at Owen’s omission in an interview with Sunday newspapers, citing Newcastle’s poor form, plus a need for strikers within his squad to do more than just score goals.

And so it has proved, with Crouch the man called upon to supply extra attacking menace now Joe Cole is unavailable. Bentley’s poor form for Spurs has also contributed to him being left out, with Wright-Phillips gaining an immediate dividend from his move back to City from English Premier League leaders Chelsea.

However, neither Wright-Phillips nor former captain David Beckham, who keeps his place, can expect to oust Theo Walcott from Capello’s starting line-up given the Arsenal starlet’s superb hat-trick in Zagreb. Bullard’s surprise first call-up to the squad proved to be a brief stay.

Squad: Goalkeepers: Scott Carson, Robert Green, David James. Defenders: Wayne Bridge, Wes Brown, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, John Terry, Matthew Upson. Midfielders: Gareth Barry, David Beckham, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Jermaine Jenas, Frank Lampard, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips. Strikers: Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.