JADE DERNBACH is the only uncapped player named in a 27-man England performance squad ahead of the summer campaign.

The 24-year-old Surrey seamer has been included for the first time after he was last week called up as a replacement in England’s World Cup squad for Michael Yardy.

Spinner Yardy pulled out of the sub-continental campaign after revealing he had been suffering from depression and has kept his place in the performance squad ahead of the visits of Sri Lanka and India.

The England selectors have also kept faith in Durham seamer Graham Onions who missed all of last season due to a back injury that required surgery in September.

The 2009 Ashes winner has made a quicker-than-expected recovery, after the initial prognosis had him sidelined him for nine months, and was last month given the go-ahead to return to bowling.

Liam Plunkett is also included, along with Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan, Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad.

But there were no major surprises in a squad that includes all 16 members of the Ashes-winning squad in Australia this winter, as well as those called up for the subsequent one-day international series and World Cup.

The squad also has room for the addition of three more players during the summer should the England hierarchy chose to elevate a player from the county circuit.

‘‘The England performance squad is designed to allow the selectors to monitor the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game,’’ ECB national selector Geoff Miller said.

“We can name 30 players in the squad but as we did last season have decided to keep three places vacant at this stage and will reserve the right to add additional players to the squad if merited by individual performances during the course of the season.”

Speaking about the inclusion of Dernbach, who spent the majority of the winter with the England Lions in the Caribbean, he added: “Jade Dernbach is a player whose progress we have been monitoring closely for some time and he has continued to impress the selectors over the winter with his performances for England Lions and the England performance programme.”

SQUAD

ANDREW Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Steven Davies, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Prior, Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett, Jonathon Trott, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.