Dalrymple added to Test squad

Jamie Dalrymple has been added to the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford starting on Thursday. Andrew Strauss will continue to lead the side in the absence of Andrew Flintoff, who has been ruled out for the next three months with an ankle injury.

Liam Plunkett has been retained despite sustaining a side strain playing for Durham yesterday. David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, said that Plunkett's fitness will be re-assessed over the next 48 hours. "We have taken the precaution of including 14 players in the squad for this Test match," he said. "As Plunkett injured his side his fitness will need to be re-assessed over the next 48 hours.

"As we will now be without Flintoff for an extended period, the selectors have appointed Strauss as captain for the rest of the Test series against Pakistan. A decision on the captaincy of the one-day side for the NatWest Series [also against Pakistan] will be made in due course.

"We are very disappointed to lose Flintoff as both a player and a captain. The medical staff from both Lancashire and England had worked extremely hard to try and help him overcome the injury without recourse to surgery and Andrew himself had done everything that was asked of him. His priority now will be to ensure he is fully fit for the Ashes in Australia."

Squad - Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Geraint Jones (wk), Liam Plunkett, Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison, Monty Panesar, Jon Lewis, Sajid Mahmood, Jamie Dalrymple.