DURHAM'S Liam Plunkett yesterday received a shock call-up for the England one-day squad to play five one-day internationals in Pakistan in December.

Clubmates Steve Harmison and Paul Collingwood are in both the Test and one-day parties, and Collingwood has regained the central contract he held last season but not this.

Plunkett said: "I had a phone call from David Graveney. I thought it would be to tell me I was in the academy this winter. The news about going to Pakistan was absolutely out of the blue, but it's a good feeling."

Graveney also confirmed that 20-year-old Plunkett would be in the National Academy squad and he reports to Loughborough in mid-October.

The chairman of selectors added: "Liam is an emerging player. This is an excellent opportunity for him and we feel he will benefit from working with Troy Cooley and learning more about the international environment."

Plunkett, from Middlesbrough, has done much better in four-day than one-day cricket recently, finishing with 51 wickets in the championship.

"I started off OK this season in the one-day game, but then a heel injury kept me out for a few weeks and I've struggled a bit with the white ball since then," he said.

"Hopefully this will help me get it sorted out. I've worked with Troy Cooley before, when I was part-time at the academy last winter. He's a good bowling coach."

Plunkett has been to Bangladesh and Australia with England Under 19s and now appears to have overtaken some of his contemporaries in the England pecking order such as Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan and Worcestershire's Kabir Ali.

With Darren Gough opting out of the trip and Matthew Hoggard still not required for one-day purposes, Plunkett will compete with Hampshire's Chris Tremlett for a place in the side should Harmison or Simon Jones be unfit.

It was felt Harmison might be excused one-day duty, but he is required for both legs of the tour, although he and Andrew Flintoff will arrive a week later than the rest of the Test squad after playing for the Rest of the World against Australia.

The three Tests span November 12 to December 3, while the one-day internationals are from December 10-21.

The shock inclusion in the Test squad is Warwickshire's off-spinning all-rounder Alex Louden, the former Durham University captain who scored 172 against Durham at the Racecourse ground in 2003.

Test squad: MP Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), age 30, Tests 62, ME Trescothick (Somerset) 29 66, AJ Strauss (Middlesex) 28 19, IR Bell (Warwickshire) 23 8, KP Pietersen (Hampshire) 25 5, A Flintoff 27 52, GO Jones (Kent, wkt) 29 20, AF Giles (Warwickshire) 32 50, SP Jones (Glamorgan) 26 18, MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire) 28 45, SJ Harmison (Durham) 26 35, PJ Collingwood (Durham) 29 3, MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt) 23 0, CT Tremlett (Hampshire) 24 0, JM Anderson (Lancashire) 23 11, AGR Loudon (Warwickshire) 25 0, SD Udal 36 0.

One-day squad: Vaughan (capt), Trescothick, Strauss, Pietersen, Flintoff, G Jones (wkt), Giles, S Jones, Harmison, Collingwood, Prior, Tremlett, Anderson, VS Solanki (Worcestershire), LE Plunkett (Durham).

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