Jade Dernbach receives surprise England call-up

Dernbach could make his England debut (GETTY IMAGES)

Surrey paceman Jade Dernbach has been handed a surprise call-up to England's World Cup squad in place of the injured Ajmal Shahzad.

It is the 24-year-old's first call-up to a senior squad, although he has spent the winter with the England Performance Programme in Australia before joining up with the Lions squad for their tour of the West Indies.

Dernbach's selection will be seen as something of a surprise selection ahead of the likes of Steven Finn and Chris Woakes, who featured in the one-day series against Australia prior to the World Cup.

Yorkshire seamer Shahzad was withdrawn from the England squad yesterday with a hamstring injury and the International Cricket Council have formally confirmed Dernbach as his replacement.

Like several other members of England's squad, Dernbach is of South African extraction, born in Johannesburg in 1986, but has played all of his senior cricket with Surrey, who handed him a debut at the age of 17.

He has been on the England radar for some time, having been part of the ECB fast bowling programme over the last two years, but many felt Woakes, who also offers some power-hitting late in the order, would be Andy Flower's next pick.

Announcing the replacement, national selector Geoff Miller said: "We have been following the progress of Jade for some time and he has impressed throughout his two years on the fast bowling programme in 2008/9 in Florida and Chennai, the England Performance Programme in Australia late last year and during the domestic season with Surrey.

"He is a talented athlete and has performed very well with the Lions on the current tour of the West Indies and we feel his variations will be extremely useful on the surfaces we will be playing on should we progress to the knockout stages of the World Cup."