Brisk Broad bounds in to celebrate his Test call-up

The Leicestershire rookie, 21, has been placed on stand-by to play in the npower series opener at Lord's from Thursday after the selectors were forced to address another untimely injury setback.

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Harmison suffered a recurrence of his hernia problem at the start of Durham's County Championship match against Sussex and although the official line is that he will be reassessed by ECB medical staff today, it is almost certain he will require surgery.

England are resigned to being without their fast-bowling spearhead for all three Tests and may rue the decision not to order an operation when the issue first came to light four weeks ago.

Coach Peter Moores and captain Michael Vaughan must now face up to being without their two fastest leading seamers - Harmison and Andrew Flintoff - which is far from ideal given the calibre of the tourists' batting line-up.

Furthermore, yet more atrocious weather yesterday robbed Matthew Hoggard of the chance for valuable match practice with Yorkshire, leaving the home attack short of experience and momentum going to Lord ' s. James

Anderson is the other man in the mix for a place in the final XI, but at least he bowled a number of overs during last week's Roses game, claiming a five-for of his own in the process.

But Broad is more likely to win the vote as he would provide variety. Hoggard, Ryan Sidebottom and Anderson all rely, to a large extent, on the swinging ball while the 6ft 6in son of former Test opener Chris Broad can trouble batsmen with sharp bounce.

In that regard, he is in the Harmison mould but chairman of selectors David Graveney claimed yesterday that his style is more reminiscent of a legendary Australian.

"There is just something about Stuart," said Graveney. "The way he plays (bats) is very similar to his father, and the way he bowls is a bit like Glenn McGrath - physically he is quite similar. He bowled well in the one-day series and he can bat, too. He got 50 at Chelmsford and plays a few shots like Chris used to do.

"The decision about whether Stuart or James Anderson plays will be based on how they bowl in the lead-up to the match, what the wicket is like and whether it is humid and the ball is going to swing."

On the subject of Harmison's prospects of being fit, Graveney added: "His chances are not completely extinguished but sadly for Steve, it looks a bit pessimistic."

With that in mind, Broad's statement of intent yesterday was important. Having struck twice on Saturday and more or less kept his head while Sachin Tendulkar was blazing his way to 171, he picked up three more lower-order wickets on the final day of three, including the prize scalp of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, clean bowled.

Broad said: "Getting the call for the Test match is a dream come true and then to go out and get five-for against a strong India batting line-up, obviously I'm over the moon.

"One-day internationals are fantastic but the pinnacle of anyone's career is to play Test cricket."

Broad admitted he was not an exact like-for-like replacement for Harmison, adding: "He's a bit quicker than me and gets a bit more bounce. My philosophy is to hit the same area every time - following the likes of McGrath and (Shaun) Pollock. I do look to swing it as a main option."

The selectors retained Andrew Strauss in the Test squad despite his poor form of late and he responded with a stylish innings of 80 as the Lions made 227 for two declared in their second innings.

Kevin Pietersen's comments in Sportsmail last week about his urgent need for a rest earned a veiled rebuke yesterday from Graveney, who said: "Rest should mean rest. It was unfortunate that Kevin made that comment on a day when he was speaking at a sponsor's launch."

England's 13-man squad for the first npower Test against India, starting at Lord's on Thursday:

MP Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt) Age 32 Tests 67

AJ Strauss (Middlesex) 30 40

AN Cook (Essex) 22 18

KP Pietersen (Hampshire) 27 27

PD Collingwood (Durham) 31 24

IR Bell (Warwickshire) 25 27

MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt) 25 4

RJ Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire) 29 4

SJ Harmison (Durham) 28 54

MS Panesar (Northamptonshire) 25 17

MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire) 30 64

JM Anderson (Lancashire) 24 16

SCJ Broad (Leicestershire) 21 0.