Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett have all recovered from injury and are included, whilst Monty Panesar is selected as second spinner. Ravi Bopara keeps his place after replacing the injured Jonathan Trott against India, and Steven Davies returns as Matt Prior's understudy. Tim Bresnan remains the only doubt having recently undergone elbow surgery.
Perhaps most surprising is the inclusion of Panesar who has not played for England since the first Test of the 2009 Ashes series. Since then Graeme Swann has gone on to establish himself as both England's and the world's premier offspin bowler, however with trips to Sri Lanka and India later in the year England are clearly keen to once again integrate Panesar into their plans. His chances of playing against Pakistan remain slim though with Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower likely to maintain the tried and tested six batsman, four bowlers ratio that worked so effectively this year.
Ravi Bopara will also likely find himself on the sidelines at least initially as England's batsman aim to continue what was a prolific year with the willow in hand. Having fought off competition from the likes of James Taylor and Johnny Bairstow, Bopara has done well to at least keep himself in the England setup, although he will have to make a marked improvement on his last outing in the subcontinent (Sri Lanka, 2007) if he is to remain in the picture in 2012.
With a cloud still hanging over Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett will also be looking to stake their claim for a recall in the two three-day warm up matches before the first Test on January 16.
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