Jones axed as England pick Read England have dropped wicket-keeper Geraint Jones after 31 consecutive appearances and recalled Chris Read for the third Test against Pakistan. Jones has a hairline fracture on his right ring-finger but England's management made a point of saying the injury was not an issue in selection.
Chairman of selectors David Graveney said: "The selectors feel this is the right time to make a change.
"Geraint has kept very well this summer, but he has been short of runs."
The third Test starts at Headingley on Friday with England 1-0 up in the four-Test series.
Read, 27, has had two previous spells with the gloves in England's Test squad, but was dropped in April 2004 during the West Indies tour for Jones to make his debut in Antigua.
But the Nottinghamshire player has put pressure on Jones this season, scoring 601 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 42.92, with three centuries.
Read said: "I felt that I kept well in the West Indies two years ago, but I knew that if was I going to get back in the Test side I would have to work on my batting because I hadn't scored enough runs.
"So I made a conscious effort to look at my batting and analyse where I can improve.
"I have worked hard with the help of Mick Newell and Paul Johnson at Nottinghamshire as well as the staff at the ECB National Academy.
"Things have gone well for me and I feel that I have reaped the rewards by scoring well in both first-class and one-day cricket over the last couple of seasons."
Jones scored a century in only his third appearance for England, but has failed to follow up his early efforts with the bat.
He has failed to reach 20 with the bat in his last five Tests, although his keeping was excellent at Old Trafford, where he took one stumping and six catches.
Graveney confirmed the decision to axe Jones had been taken regardless of his injury.
He said: "The key factor for the selectors was his form with the bat and we believe that he will benefit from having a break from international cricket and spending more time in the middle with his county."
Jones was disappointed to lose the gloves.
He said: "It's a blow to lose my place, but the selectors have explained the reasons why and I will be working extremely hard to win it back.
"I have been very pleased with my wicket-keeping this summer but I am also conscious of the fact that I am in the side as a batsman as well as a keeper.
"Your performances in Test matches are always going to come under intense scrutiny and what I need to do now is recapture my best form away from the international arena.
"It's up to me to go back to Kent, and as soon as my finger has recovered, look to score plenty of runs and put myself back in the frame for the Ashes this winter."
England squad: Andrew Strauss (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Chris Read (wk), Sajid Mahmood, Jon Lewis, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.
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wccc. The best team in the world
The Ideal England Team: Hick, Solanki, Batty, Davies, Kabir Ali, Mitchell, Moore, Sillence, Khalid, Moeen Ali, wccc
England: M E Trescothick, A J Strauss, A N Cook, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, I R Bell, C M W Read, S I Mahmood, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, M S Panesar
Pakistan: Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Taufeeq Umar, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria
England Won the toss and elected to bat.
Marcus Trescothick was caught and bowled by Sami for28 off 59 and Andrew Strauss was caughted by Khan and the bowler was Nazir for 36 off 43. England are 71-2 with Alistair Cook on 4 and Kevin Pietersen on 0.
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wccc. The best team in the world
The Ideal England Team: Hick, Solanki, Batty, Davies, Kabir Ali, Mitchell, Moore, Sillence, Khalid, Moeen Ali, wccc
347-6 with Kevin Pieteresen ready to resume tomorrow after retiring with cramp on 104. Didn't see any of it as I was at The Oval, but got home in time to catch the highlights.
Pietersen played just as if he was in a one-day game.
Absolutely. More than justified his recall. He was under pressure too.
Could be a great day's cricket tomorrow! Harmison and Monty the key men for England. Gotta work from 2 pm onwards, but I'll take my radio and get scoreflashes whenever I can.
They did once, against Australia I think. Inzamam and Mushtaq had to put on over 50 to win the match. But I don't think they'll do it here - as I write Faisal has gone, and it's 80 for 4!
A nice tidy victory in the end, and that concludes the series.
Well played England, nice to see Mahmood get amongst the wickets too.
I'm really looking forward to the Ashes now, i actually feel when we have all our players full fit we'll have a better squad that the team that won last summer.
It doesn't quite conclude the series. I have a ticket for the Oval!
My wife once asked me why do they bother to play the last Test when the series has been decided, and I said it was probably because several thousand tickets had been sold for it. I'm looking forward to seeing Asif and Akhtar bowl.
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