Broad Ready to Fill the Breach As Harmison Hobbles Out

Stuart Broad, Leicestershire's 21-year-old pace bowler could make his Test debut at Lord's on Thursday after Steve Harmison yesterday effectively ruled himself out of the first Test and perhaps the series with a recurrence of his hernia injury.

Broad was named in a 13-man squad by the chairman of selectors, David Graveney, as was Harmison, who will be assessed today. But the Durham fast bowler has already decided in his own mind that he will not be fit for the Test and by the time the team take the field he may well have had the operation that England's medical team were hoping could be delayed until the end of the summer to give him the opportunity to make a full recovery before the tour of Sri Lanka in December.

"Being realistic, there is not much chance of me playing," Harmison admitted yesterday at Horsham where Durham have been playing Sussex. Although named in the squad, he is not intending to join the team and instead will see the England physiotherapist, Kirk Russell, at Horsham before returning home.

The injury, which had first appeared during England's win in the final Test against West Indies at Chester-le-Street almost a month ago, recurred when he dived in the field to save a ball during the first over of the Sussex innings on Friday. " I knew that I was out of the Test as soon as I did it," he said. At that stage he had yet to bowl but went on to do so in a four- over spell, returning for one further over before leaving the field.

Harmison's absence, after a gradual return to something like his best form during the latter stages of the West Indies series, throws into the spotlight the tricky balance between the need for some elite bowlers to get as much match practice as possible in order to gain and maintain rhythm and confidence - Harmison being a prime example - and the desire not to risk injury. The bowler had played against Surrey at The Oval last week and, according to Geoff Cook, Durham's director of cricket, had been performing very well. "I played there with no problems," Harmison agreed, "and it went pretty well. That is why I agreed to play at Horsham."

Now Broad, who took three more wickets yesterday, to finish with five for 76 for England A against the Indians at Chelmsford, will compete for the final pace bowling spot with James Anderson, who played in England's last Test against India in Mumbai, taking six wickets to help the side to a series-levelling win, and three times against Australia last winter but has not played a home Test since 2004.

No decision is likely to be made until the morning of the match but a balance will be drawn between Anderson's potential to swing the ball at a lively pace and the bounce that Broad, 6ft 5in and counting, can extract from a surface that has provided recent encouragement to fast bowlers in the form of good carry.

Whoever plays, however, the absence of Harmison deprives England of a bowler with 200 Test wickets who, in the continuing absence of Andrew Flintoff, is, when on song, the only one capable of ruffling the feathers of India's stellar batting order. "It may mean that we have to go into this series with a relatively inexperienced attack," Graveney admitted, "but I am sure all of the bowlers concerned will relish the opportunity to test themselves against a side which has one of the strongest batting line-ups in world cricket."

Broad has already established himself as one of the most promising of the latest generation of pace bowlers, with height on his side, good pace and, when he firms up a rather lazy front arm (something that will increase his control and zip), the best fast bowling action England have had since Darren Gough. Although he has yet to play a Test and was unlucky to miss out on original selection for the World Cup, he has played nine one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals. His selection means that he and his father Chris, now an ICC match referee, would become the latest of a dozen pères et fils to have played for England.

Andrew Strauss, who made 80 against India yesterday, retains the faith of the selectors, although Owais Shah's unbeaten half-century will have maintained the pressure should Strauss fail on his home ground. The fact that Matthew Hoggard has been able to bowl only six competitive overs for Yorkshire since the end of the West Indies series is less of an issue; he is a bowler who can get back in the groove in a single spell.

Broad's progress

1986 Born in Nottingham, son of former England opener Chris

2005 County debut for Leicestershire. Plays for England Under-19s and tours West Indies with England A

2006May Named in England's 25-man development squad

August England Twenty20 debut against Pakistan at Bristol, claiming two for 35 from four overs. One-day international debut against Pakistan in Cardiff. Takes wicket of Shoaib Malik in a spell of one for 14

2007February Called up for one-day series in Australia because of injuries but does not play

April Joins World Cup squad after Jon Lewis returns home. Plays in the one-wicket victory over West Indies in the Super Eight, hitting the winning runs with a ball to spare

July Named in Test squad

Thirteen-man squad for the first npower Test against India, starting at Lord's on Thursday

MP Vaughan Yorkshire, capt 32 67

AJ Strauss Middlesex 30 40

AN Cook Essex 22 18

KP Pietersen Hampshire 27 27

PD Collingwood Durham 31 24

IR Bell Warwickshire 25 27

MJ Prior Sussex, wkt 25 4

RJ Sidebottom Notts 29 4

SJ Harmison Durham 28 54

MS Panesar Northants 25 17

MJ Hoggard Yorkshire 30 64

JM Anderson Lancashire 24 16

SCJ Broad Leicestershire 21 0