No surprises in England squad

Fresh from securing their first Test win of the year, England have named their 26-man Performance Squad for the summer season.

Their eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Colombo ended a run of four straight defeats and, as expected, there was no change in the captaincy of any of the three sides, with Andrew Strauss (Test), Alastair Cook (one-day) and Stuart Broad (Twenty20) all retained.

There were no real surprises in the party either, with five new faces added to a list of familiar names in the shape of Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Danny Briggs and Ben Stokes (both Durham) and Stuart Meaker (Surrey).

However, there was no place for James Taylor, the Nottinghamshire batsman considered by many to be the next man in waiting for a place in the England top six.

"We welcome the five new players to the squad and their inclusion reflects the progress they have all made with senior England teams and the England Lions over the last 12 months," national selector Geoff Miller said.

"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. We can name a total of 30 players in the EPS but have decided to only name 26 at this early stage of the season."

Bairstow impressed when thrown into the one-day side at the end of last season and also on the tour of the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, while both he and Buttler can provide wicketkeeping back-up to Matt Prior and Steven Davies.

Durham pair Briggs and Stokes, who is New Zealand-born, are two of the highest-rated prospects on the domestic circuit and have also made their one-day debuts, while Meaker made two ODI appearances in India last winter.

England host the West Indies and South Africa this summer.

England Performance Squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex, Test captain), Alastair Cook (Essex, one-day captain), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire, T20 captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Steven Davies (Surrey), Jade Dernbach (Surrey), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Craig Kieswetter (Somerset), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Stuart Meaker (Surrey), Graham Onions (Durham), Monty Panesar (Sussex), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Kevin Pietersen (Surrey), Matt Prior (Sussex), Ben Stokes (Durham), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Chris Tremlett (Surrey), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire).