Dernbach in England Performance squad

Jade Dernbach, the Surrey pace bowler, is the only uncapped player in England's 27-man Performance Programme made up of the cricketers most likely to appear during the international season.

There is also a place for Durham's Graham Onions who is making good progress having recovered from the stress fracture of his back which forced him to miss the entire 2010 season.

Michael Yardy, who left the World Cup early due to depression, is among the squad as are wicketkeepers Craig Kieswetter and Steve Davies who will put pressure on Matt Prior for the one-day spot. The main purpose of the squad is to allow Andy Flower, the England team director, to manage the workload of key players during the summer.

Dernbach was called up to the World Cup after Yardy's departure but didn't get the chance to debut as England crashed to a 10-wicket defeat in the quarter-finals. However, he has been identified as another pace-bowling option as England look to bolster their stocks to manage a hectic international schedule.

"The England Performance Squad is designed to allow the selectors to monitor the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game," Geoff Miller, the national selector said. "We can name 30 players in the squad but as we did last season have decided to keep three places vacant at this stage and will reserve the right to add additional players to the squad if merited by individual performances during the course of the season.

"Jade Dernbach is a player whose progress we have been monitoring closely for some time and he has continued to impress the selectors over the winter with his performances for England Lions and the England Performance Programme. "

Apart from Kieswetter, who was forced to miss the Twenty20 internationals in Australia due to injury, and Onions all the players in the programme have featured in a main England squad during the winter. The next batch of central contracts will be confirmed in May ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka.

Performance Programme Andrew Strauss,* James Anderson* Ian Bell*, Ravi Bopara+ Tim Bresnan+, Stuart Broad* Paul Collingwood *, Alastair Cook *, Steven Davies, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn* Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Morgan+Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen* Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior *, Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann* James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett+, Jonathon Trott* Chris Woakes, Luke Wright+, Michael Yardy+.

* denotes 11 players on 12-month ECB central contracts
+ denotes seven players on ECB increment contracts