Jones Returns As Selectors Stand By Udal

England paceman Simon Jones’s recovery from injury is on the verge of completion following his selection in a 15-man squad for the forthcoming tour of India.

Jones, who underwent surgery on an ankle problem which ruled him out of the final Ashes Test and the subsequent trip to Pakistan, takes the place of Lancashire’s James Anderson. The Glamorgan seamer will fly to India early alongside Mark Footitt and Sajid Mahmood from the Academy to work at the fast bowling Academy.

Thirty-six-year-old Shaun Udal keeps his Test place after his call-up for the pre-Christmas series in Pakistan, but the naming of a third spinner has been delayed, with Northamptonshire’s Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell of Somerset two of the front-runners to join the tourists when they leave for Mumbai on February 12.

Alex Loudon and Anderson both drop out of the Test squad which toured Pakistan, but are expected to be included in the A squad to visit West Indies, which is likely to be named in the next few days and should to serve as match practice for the back-up players and one-day specialists.

"In choosing our Test squad, we wanted to show faith with the same group of players who have performed extremely well for England over the past two years," explained chairman of selectors David Graveney. "Although we lost the series [in Pakistan], there were some encouraging individual performances from players who are new to Test cricket and we are keen to continue their development."

Both captain Michael Vaughan (knee) and Ashley Giles (hip), who have undergone surgery since returning early from Pakistan, have been named in the Test and one-day squads subject to them coming through stringent fitness tests prior to the tourists’ departure.

Meanwhile, Darren Gough’s chances of playing in next year’s World Cup suffered a major blow when he was overlooked for the one-day squad.

Having ruled himself out of the pre-Christmas trip to Pakistan to appear on the BBC program Strictly Come Dancing, which he subsequently won, the 35-year-old Essex seamer made himself available for the second half of England’s winter schedule. But the promising performances of Anderson and Liam Plunkett of Durham in Pakistan have prompted the selectors to keep faith with them in preference to Gough for the seven-match one-day series which follows the Test series.

"Darren asked the selectors not to consider him for the tour of Pakistan for personal reasons and we respected his wishes. With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan and Simon Jones now available for selection again, the selectors feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible ahead of the World Cup," added Graveney.

Worcestershire batsman Vikram Solanki is the other notable absentee from the 16-man one-day party despite featuring in all five matches in Pakistan, with the selectors preferring to give Warwickshire’s Ian Bell an opportunity.

Bell and Plunkett are included in both squads for the first time and Graveney said: "Liam has made a promising start to his international career and is an emerging player with great potential. Ian Bell has also been named in both squads as we believe his ability to bat in the top order will give us another option as we continue to plan for the World Cup in 2007."