Jones called up for Caribbean tour

Simon Jones has been drafted into England's Test squad for the forthcoming trip to the Caribbean, after proving his fitness and rediscovering his form on the England A tour to India and Malaysia. Jones, who took 10 wickets in the recent match against Tamil Nadu, will fly home later this week before linking up with the Test squad in Jamaica.

"Simon is now fully recovered from injury," said David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors. "Rod Marsh [England A's coach] has been pleased with his progress. He has worked hard on building up his fitness over the winter, and I'm sure that his wicket-taking capabilities will be a real asset to Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher in the Caribbean."

"When the ball starts to get old that's when he wants to bowl very fast and any team can use a bowler of that nature," added Marsh. "I'd like to think he's going to do very well."

Marsh suggested earlier this week that Jones had put in more than enough effort on the unresponsive wickets in India, and with some gruelling travel in store for England A over the next few days - in particular an eight-hour train journey between Delhi and Amritsar - there seemed little to gain by keeping him on the tour.

Jones's return to the full England squad comes almost 16 months since his horrific injury at Brisbane on the opening day of last winter's Ashes series, when he ruptured his knee ligaments while attempting a sliding stop on the sand-based Gabba outfield. After undergoing surgery, he flew home from the tour and did not reappear on a cricket field until he made an appearance for Glamorgan 2nd XI at the end of last summer.

In Jones's absence, Marsh has summoned Yorkshire pace bowler Steve Kirby from Madras, where he has been in the academy there, training with Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation. Lillee is reported to be impressed with Kirby's pace, and that is good enough for his former team-mate Marsh.