Bresnan, Broad picked ahead of Finn for Lord’s test

Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan were given the nod ahead of fellow paceman Steve Finn in England’s 12-man squad for Thursday’s opening test of the four-match series against India at Lord’s.

England’s new Twenty20 skipper Broad was dropped for the fifth and final one-day international in the recent 50-overs series against Sri Lanka after struggling to take wickets.

Bresnan returns to the test squad for the first time since the final Ashes test in Sydney in January after recovering from a calf muscle injury, the England Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement ahead of the sport’s 2,000th test match.

“This is clearly a highly anticipated series between two of the world’s top test-playing nations and I know the England team is certainly looking forward to the challenge of taking on the number one ranked team in test cricket,” England national selector Geoff Miller said.

“Following the successful test and ODI series against Sri Lanka we’re pleased to be able to include Tim Bresnan in the test squad after his excellent return from a calf muscle injury.

“Tim adds further bite to our pace attack along with James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad, who has greatly benefitted from getting overs and wickets under his belt for Nottinghamshire during the week.”

As well as the tests, India will play five ODIs and a lone Twenty20 match during their two-month tour of England, who started the summer with a 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in their three-match test series before edging the one-dayers 3-2.

Squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott.