Red-hot Ronnie in one-day squad

Ronnie Irani has been rewarded for his red-hot start to the season with a place in England's one-day squad for the NatWest Series against India and Sri Lanka.

Irani, 30, played the last of his 10 limited-overs internationals more than five years ago. But the selectors simply could not ignore him any longer.

The all-rounder has starred with bat and ball while leading Essex to 10 one-day victories so far this season and he was the logical choice to fill a gap created so tragically by the death of Ben Hollioake in March.

England have picked Darren Gough in the hope that he will be fit in time to feature in the triangular tournament, which starts next week, but fellow fast bowlers Alex Tudor and James Kirtley are also in a squad of 15.

Surrey's Tudor clinched his place by performing outstandingly well as England won the final Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford. Kirtley, meanwhile, returns to the fold followinga winter spent working on his action. The Sussex paceman was effectively accused of throwing by a match referee in Zimbabwe last October but he has since been cleared by a Lord's panel.

With Gough still recuperating from a knee operation and Andrew Caddick now absent for a month due to a side injury, both Tudor and Kirtley could feature over the next three weeks.

But no-one will be keener to get cracking than Irani. "It's a nice reward for a bit of hard work," said Irani, who has already made five fifties and taken 28 wickets in one-day cricket this season.

The one notable absentee is allrounder Craig White, who played in the one-day series in New Zealand earlier this year.

The England squad

N Hussain (Essex, capt)
ME Trescothick (Somerset)
NV Knight (Warwickshire)
MP Vaughan (Yorkshire)
GP Thorpe (Surrey)
A Flintoff (Lancashire)
PD Collingwood (Durham),
AJ Stewart (Surrey, wkt)
AF Giles (Warwickshire)
RJ Kirtley (Sussex)
D Gough (Yorkshire)
MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire)
AJ Tudor (Surrey)
RC Irani (Essex)
JP Snape (Gloucestershire)

C&G Trophy - latest