England call up spinner Mason Crane eight years after his solitary Test cap

Nearly eight years on from his solitary Test cap in Sydney comes a recall for Mason Crane after the leg-spinner was named in England’s squad for the one-day international tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka later this month.

Harry Brook’s squad will fly to Islamabad on 15 October for a round-robin mini-tournament that serves as preparation for next year’s 50-over World Cup. The three teams play each other twice in the group stage, before the top two meet for the final at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on 31 October.

Jos Buttler will miss the trip due to his recent hamstring tear and Jofra Archer is being rested at the start of a busy winter. But there are returns for Adil Rashid and Sam Curran following injury, a spot for James Coles, while the most eye-catching move is Crane usurping Rehan Ahmed as the back-up wrist-spinner in the squad.

Ahmed struggled for impact during the recent 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka which saw the all-rounder dropped for the decider. Though primarily a bowler – and one who has matured in recent seasons – Crane has added a second string to his bow this summer, scoring two first-class centuries to go with 51 wickets across formats.

Marcus North, England men’s national selector, said: “Mason Crane has been performing consistently for Glamorgan across both formats during the summer. He’s an experienced, high-class leg-spinner who thoroughly deserves another opportunity at international level.”

No Archer sees Henry Crocombe join the bank of seamers, having impressed for Sussex this season ahead of his winter move to Surrey. It also means 23-year-old Sonny Baker is likely to share the new ball with Josh Tongue, having claimed his maiden ODI wicket against Sri Lanka at the Oval last week.

Now a three-format England cricketer after his Test debut in June, and recently voted the Professional Cricketers Association’s young player of the year by his peers, Baker is personally hoping a tour of Pakistan will deepen his understanding of reverse swing in what is the art-form’s spiritual home.

“One of the biggest things I’m trying to do for the rest of my career is to break it down into segments,” said Baker, speaking at the PCA Awards in association with Toyota. “So during this next period of time, what am I focusing on? What am I trying to get out of it?

“In Pakistan it would be reverse-swing, trying to bang my yorkers, and learn about executing skills in those conditions. Pakistan is not somewhere I’ve been before.

“I’m sure that’ll be a very transferable skill to playing in other areas of Asia. I’m really, really looking forward to that – particularly reverse swing, I think caters to my action quite nicely.”

England ODI squad: (Yorkshire, capt), Atkinson (Surrey), Baker (Hampshire), Banton (Somerset), Coles (Sussex), Cox (Essex), Crane (Glamorgan), Crocombe (Sussex), S Curran (Surrey), Dawson (Hampshire), Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Jacks (Surrey), J Overton (Surrey), Rashid (Yorkshire), Root (Yorkshire), Tongue (Nottinghamshire).