Onions handed England call-up (From The Northern Echo)

Durham's Graham Onions handed England call-up

12:12pm Tuesday 13th December 2011 in Durham CCC By Tim Wellock

DURHAM paceman Graham Onions will travel to the United Arab Emirates as cover for England’s fast bowlers when they take on Pakistan in a three-Test series which begins next month.

Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett are all recovering from injuries but are expected to be fit for the opening game in Dubai on January 17. In that case Onions is likely to be sent home.

The last of his nine Tests was against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town, in early 2010, after which he suffered a career-threatening back injury.

He returned to the national set-up last season, when he was called into the Test squad as cover for Jimmy Anderson at The Oval. He then went to Ireland with the one-day squad and flew out to India for the ODI series in October after injury to Chris Woakes, although he didn’t play.

This latest call-up means Onions is back in front of Woakes in the pecking order and is also ahead of Yorkshire’s Ajmal Shazaad, who was taken to Australia as fast bowling cover last winter.

Tremlett hasn’t featured for England since the first Test against India, at Lord’s, because of a back problem, while Broad hasn’t played since the fourth ODI against India in September after suffering a shoulder injury.

Both are currently in South Africa, along with Onions and Anderson, at a training camp with the performance programme players. Bresnan recently underwent elbow surgery to remove a bone fragment.

• Worcestershire have signed Australia opener Phil Hughes for the latter half of the 2012 season.

The 23-year-old enjoyed a prolific spell with Middlesex before the 2009 Ashes and has scored over 1,000 runs in 16 Tests for his country, though captain Michael Clarke yesterday hinted the left-hander could be dropped after a poor run of scores.

Hughes said: "I’m thrilled to be heading back to England.

Worcestershire is a quality organisation and I can’t wait to meet my new team-mates.”