Durham allrounder Paul Collingwood has been added to England's squad for the second Test in Birmingham on Thursday.

It had been widely speculated that he would be included when the squad was announced on Sunday, but chairman of selectors David Graveney announced an unchanged XII.

But an early inspection of the pitch at Edgbaston saw the England management team make a swift U-turn and reward Collingwood for his recent run of three centuries in his last three Championship innings.

Graveney said: "It has been well documented that Birmingham has experienced unusually large amounts of rainfall in the last few days and this has put the ground authorities under extreme pressure.

"Having looked at the pitch it has been decided to add Collingwood to the squad so that England will have the maximum number of options available on match day."

If Collingwood is selected this will be his third Test appearance having won two caps on England's tour of Sri Lanka in 2003-04.

Revised squad:

Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Chris Tremlett.

2 Aug, 2005