The England pace bowler Ajmal Shahzad has been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan at Trent Bridge tomorrow, due to an ankle injury.
Tim Bresnan, his Yorkshire team-mate, has been called in to the 12-man squad, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed today. The 25-year-old fast-medium bowler made his Test debut for England in 2009 against the West Indies at Lord's.
The ECB chief medical officer Nick Peirce said: "After twisting his left ankle with Yorkshire over a week ago, Ajmal went on to successfully play in a Clydesdale Bank 40 match for his county last Monday.
"Unfortunately, Ajmal felt some discomfort following England practice on Tuesday and, as a precautionary measure, it is felt he is best to undergo rehabilitation on the ankle for the remainder of this week.
"We expect Ajmal to make a full recovery. He hasn't been ruled unavailable for the second Test starting next week. He will continue to be assessed this week before a decision on his fitness is made."
The national selector Geoff Miller, meanwhile, is hopeful Shahzad will be available for the second Test at Edgbaston, starting on 6 August. He told Sky Sports News: "His career's just starting. There's lots for him to work at. It's disappointing for him, obviously, but he'll fight back. We'll monitor and work on his problem, his ankle. He'll come in and the medical staff will work on him. We'll keep it open. We're not picking sides for the two Test matches – we're doing it separately, Test by Test."
Miller is pleased to have been able to draft in Bresnan and believes Shahzad's Yorkshire team-mate will be up to the task if called upon. "We've created over the last year or so a strength in depth, so we've got international-quality players who can fill in at any given time," Miller added. "Tim comes into the squad. It's a squad of 12 and obviously somebody will be left out. We don't know who that will be at this stage, we'll wait and see what the surface and the conditions are like."
Asked what he thought of the wicket, he replied: "Typical Trent Bridge really – very good wicket. There's a little bit of a cracking on it but they don't seem to break up too much. We think we know what it's going to play like so we'll select accordingly."