Jones dropped for Read

England’s selectors have dropped Geraint Jones for the third Test against Pakistan and have recalled Chris Read.

Read was England’s first choice wicket keeper following Alec Stewart’s retirement, but a lack of runs led to him being dropped during 2004’s tour of the West Indies. He has always been regarded as the superior gloveman to Jones, but the selectors decided Jones’s batting pushed him ahead.

Jones’s wicket keeping has improved over the past 12 months, but he has disappointed with the bat. He suffered a fracture to his ring finger during last week’s Test at Old Trafford, but chairman of selectors David Graveney confirmed that it was his poor form with the bat that led to his omission: “The selectors feel this is the right time to make a change. Geraint has kept very well this summer, but he has been short of runs.”

Read has been in good form with the bat for Nottinghamshire this season, averaging 42.92 and was obviously delighted at his recall: “I felt that I kept well in the West Indies two years ago, but I knew that if was I going to get back in the Test side I would have to work on my batting because I hadn’t scored enough runs. So I made a conscious effort to look at my batting and analyse where I can improve. I have worked hard with the help of Mick Newell and Paul Johnson at Nottinghamshire as well as the staff at the ECB National Academy. Things have gone well for me and I feel that I have reaped the rewards by scoring well in both first class and one-day cricket over the last couple of seasons.”

Aside from the change in wicket keeper, the England squad is the same as it was for the last Test, with Liam Plunkett still absent through injury.

England Test squad
England squad Andrew Strauss (c), Marcus Trescothick, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Chris Read (wk), Sajid Mahmood, Jon Lewis, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.