Recalled Patel must prove his commitment

Samit Patel has been told in no uncertain terms to make the most of his England one-day recall after improving his fitness enough to earn a place in the Twenty20 and ODI squads to face Sri Lanka. Patel has faced a much-publicised battle with his weight, which came to a head before the World Cup when he failed to hit the targets that would have earned him a place, and has worked hard over the last few months.

That improvement has been enough to encourage Geoff Miller and Andy Flower to look again at Patel as England begin rebuilding after another poor World Cup. His coach at Nottinghamshire, Mick Newell, has always believed Patel was worth another chance at the top level but has told the player this is just the start and the rest is down to him.

"What I'm saying to him is 'congratulations and don't cock it up', so if he doesn't understand this time he never will," Newell told ESPNcricinfo. "The requirements of the England set up will be tougher than those of a county side, as they should be, because of the intensity and the amount of cricket that is played. Samit will know he is expected to get higher standards and he'll need to keep on pushing himself."

Flower was very critical of Patel before the World Cup - "We want tough, determined cricketers playing for England and he is not indicating that he is capable of that," he said at the time - but has kept in touch with Patel over the last few months. That time has included Patel paying his own way to return to Australia for further fitness work and Newell believes that the tough, but fair, approach of the ECB has been important.

"He's put in a lot of hard work and he's had a lot of encouragement from the England set up to do that," he said. "Andy Flower has never stopped talking to him and never stopped phoning him to ask how he's getting on. There's been a lot of interest from England in the two-and-a-half years since he last played."

That last incarnation as an international cricketer started with some notable success as he took 5 for 41 against South Africa, at The Oval, during England's 4-0 series win under the captaincy of Kevin Pietersen. He also chipped in with some useful runs, but started to struggle when the team travelled to India and it was later in that winter, during a Lions tour of New Zealand, that he was dumped from England's one-day squad for missing his fitness targets.

Patel's limited-overs form for Nottinghamshire has remained consistent while in the international wilderness, but 2010 was a tough year in the Championship as he averaged 26.70 in 16 matches. This summer, though, his figures are much better - a Championship average of 46.90 alongside a CB40 mark of 42 - and he scored a hundred for England Lions against Sri Lanka at Derby, but a large part of Patel's selection is down to his left-arm spin which can give England's one-day side the balance it has been crying out for. He will link up with Nottinghamshire team-mate Graeme Swann to form the spin attack if two slow bowlers are needed and Newell says England have got the best option.

"I think in one-day cricket he can certainly perform that No. 2 role. I'm not sure whether he could do it in Test cricket, England have got options better than Samit for the longer form of the game when it comes to left-arm spinners, but what he brings in the one-day game is a package of batting and bowling which can provide excellent balance. In my mind there is no doubt that he's the second-best option behind Graeme Swann.

"I think his four-day batting has been better than it has for a number of seasons," Newell added. "He didn't have a good season last year in four-day cricket, but he's having a good summer so far and his Championship cricket has been very good. In his one-day cricket I don't think the standards have particularly dropped for a number of years and it's good to see he's been rewarded."

England have given Patel a second chance, now he needs to take it with both hands. If he wastes it there won't be another one.