London – England recalled seam-bowler Ravi Bopara in a 13-man squad announced Sunday for the first Test against South Africa at The Oval starting on Thursday.
The seam-bowling all-rounder was given a chance to add to his tally of 12 Test caps, the last won against India in August last year, after impressing with 182 runs and four wickets in the 4-0 one-day series thrashing of Australia completed earlier this week.
Essex mainstay Bopara, 27, replaced Jonathan Bairstow after the middle-order batsman struggled in his maiden Test series against the West Indies, scoring just 38 runs in three matches.
England are currently the world's top-ranked Test side but South Africa will replace them at the summit if they win this three-match series.
England first Test squad:
Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Graham Onions – Sapa-AFP