England’s all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson was ruled out of a 12-man squad announced yesterday for next week’s first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s.
Anderson, 33, has not recovered from a right shoulder injury sustained in the third Test against Sri Lanka last month — a three-match series England won 2-0.
The Lancashire paceman’s place in the squad has been taken by uncapped Middlesex seamer Toby Roland-Jones.
He will now be pushing for a Test debut on his Lord’s home ground alongside Nottinghamshire quick Jake Ball, in the squad for the Sri Lanka series but also yet to make his maiden Test appearance.
“Jimmy has been touch and go for a while, he is making really good progress but it is the selectors’ view that he just won’t be quite ready for that first Test, hopefully for the second (at Old Trafford),” said England captain Alastair Cook yesterday.
With struggling number three Nick Compton taking time out of cricket, the selectors sprang a surprise by recalling Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance for the first of a four-Test series starting on July 14.
Ballance is set to slot in at number five, with his Yorkshire colleague Joe Root taking Compton’s place at number three.
 “Gary is mentally strong and we feel that he will add quality and experience to England’s middle-order,” said England national selector James Whitaker.
 Ballance made a run-laden start to his 15-Test England career before struggling last year against New Zealand and Australia’s left-arm fast bowlers.
 Pakistan’s attack is likely to include two proven left-arm pacemen in Mohamed Amir and Wahab Riaz.
 “It’s all come as a bit of a surprise,” said 26-year-old left-hander Ballance, who last played Test cricket against Australia at Lord’s last year.
 This week he scored 132 in the first innings for county champions Yorkshire against Middlesex at Scarborough.
 “It was about this time last year when I got left out,” said Ballance.
 “I’ve had some time away, the chance to work on my game, and I feel like I’ve got back to where I want to be.”
 Roland-Jones, 28, has been in fine form for Middlesex this season, with 30 County Championship wickets at under 30 apiece.
 He took six wickets during Middlesex’s win over Yorkshire this week, and hit an unbeaten 79 off 51 balls from No 9.
 Ballance said of Roland-Jones: “He’s been a quality bowler for the last few years for Middlesex, all of us who play in county cricket know how good a bowler he is and obviously he’s going to have good knowledge of bowling at Lord’s. He thoroughly deserves his call-up.”
 This will be England’s first home series against Pakistan since the infamous 2010 campaign.
 That year’s Lord’s Test saw Pakistan seamers Amir and Mohamed Asif, together with captain Salman Butt, given five-year bans and jail terms for deliberately bowling no-balls as part of a newspaper sting operation.
 Left-arm fast bowler Amir returned to international cricket earlier this year and the 24-year-old could now make his Test comeback at Lord’s.
 Amir took an impressive three for 36, swinging the ball steeply at sharp pace, in Pakistan’s drawn tour-opener against Somerset earlier this week.
 Pakistan have one more three-day game, against Sussex at Hove starting on Friday, before the first Test.
 Whitaker added: “Pakistan will give us a stiff challenge during this series and we can expect some fantastic cricket from both sides over the next couple of months.”
 
England squad:
Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wkt), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex), James Vince (Hampshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
 Fixtures:
 Jul 14-18: 1st Test, Lord’s
 Jul 22-26: 2nd Test, Old Trafford
 Aug 03-07: Third Test, Edgbaston
 Aug 11-15: Fourth Test, The Oval