Nick Knight recalled to England Test squad

Nick Knight has been recalled to the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford as a batting replacement for injured captain Nasser Hussain.

The Warwickshire left-hander has not played for England since breaking his finger during last summer's momentous victory over West Indies at Lord's, but has begun the season impressively and averages 54.33 in championship cricket.

Knight won his recall ahead of other experienced players like John Crawley of Lancashire and Surrey's Mark Ramprakash, who was expected to end his year-long wait for another opportunity following his controversial switch from Middlesex to the county champions during the winter.

Yorkshire left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, who performed impressively on his Test debut during the innings victory over Pakistan at Lord's even though he finished wicketless, fails to retain his place because of the return to fitness of Headingley team-mate Matthew Hoggard after a back problem.

"In our discussions about a replacement batsman for Nasser, there were a number of outstanding candidates to choose from in particular younger players such as Owais Shah and Usman Afzaal," said chairman of selectors David Graveney.

"In this instance, however, with Ian Ward having only just made his debut, we decided to go for a more experienced player and we considered Mark Ramprakash and John Crawley as well as Nick Knight.

"Our decision to pick Nick was based on the fact that he has been in outstanding form for Warwickshire this season, has batted in the middle order for England before and has also scored a Test hundred against Pakistan."

Injured trio Hussain, Ashley Giles (Achilles tendon) and Craig White (back) will all be at the practice sessions in Manchester, which begin on Tuesday afternoon, but none will be selected.

Glamorgan off-spinner Robert Croft is again in the squad but with Old Trafford in particular suffering a wet start to the summer, he may well be left out when England choose the side later in the week.

At this stage, the more likely option is that we will play seven batsmen and the four best bowlers, but our final decision will depend on an assessment of the pitch and local weather conditions," added Graveney.