The shoulder injury that James Anderson picked up at the end of the test series against Sri Lanka has not healed in time for him to play in the first Test against Pakistan starting a week today at Lord's.
Anderson doesn't play in England's short form sides so has had several weeks to recover in time for the opener at cricket HQ but isn't cleared to play meaning either Notts' Jake Ball, who was in the Test squad against Sri Lanka, or Middlesex's Toby Roland-Jones will make their Test debut in the match.
Ben Stokes has also failed to recover from his injury that kept him out of the end of the Test series and the entirety of the ODI and T20 series. Nick Compton is the other name missing from the last Test as his form as surely seen him play his last international match.
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In his place comes Yorkshire's Gary Ballance who was last in an England squad for the Lord's match against Australia last year but scored a 132 against Middlesex in the County Championships last week.
James Vince keeps his place despite a less than impressive series in the longer form of the games against Sri Lanka but will be given another chance to prove himself as a five day batsman.
There had been calls for Scott Borthwick to get a recall to the Test squad but this time as a number three batsman but instead it looks like either Joe Root or Ballance will fill that role whilst Stokes and Jos Buttler's claims to be included just as bowlers have also been ignored.
England should expect a more difficult test against Pakistan than their previous opponents were able to give them and there will be lots of interest around pace bowler Mohammad Amir who spent six months in a young offender's institution after being found guilty of spot fixing on his last visit in the 2010 series.
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