John Crawley is on standby to replace Mark Butcher in England's final eleven for the third npower Test against Sri Lanka, which starts at Old Trafford on Thursday.

The 29-year-old Surrey left-hander has a knee injury which requires surgery, but has been included in England's 13-man squad. He will be given until Tuesday to decide whether the knee is up to the rigours of a five-day match. He hopes to play, before undergoing an operation after the game.

Butcher would then expect to be back to full fitness in time for the first Test against India, which starts at Lord's on July 25. If Butcher is not fit for Manchester, he would be replaced at number three by Crawley, who bats in the same position for Hampshire.

"With regards to Mark, we will test his left knee on Tuesday morning and we will be looking to make an early decision on his fitness in fairness to both him and John Crawley," said England's chairman of selectors David Graveney.

"If there is still a problem for Mark and he is not fit let's get him sorted. Making the decision on that day will also allow John to prepare mentally for the match."

Crawley is an acknowledged expert against spin, and is used to conditions at Old Trafford after his 12-year career there with Lancashire, where he captained Muttiah Muralitharan.

"John got a couple of scores in excess of 30 at Lord's, and his average this season is pretty impressive," said Graveney.

"I know he enjoyed returning for that first Test match and his omission at Edgbaston was purely tactical. He may now get another chance and he and Murali know each other reasonably well, so that should be a good contest."

With the squad reduced from 14 at Edgbaston to 13 at Manchester, Dominic Cork is the man to miss out.

"We had the luxury last time of knowing the county matches started on a Friday. It would not have been fair on Dominic and not fair on his county in particular had we called him and pulled him out of a championship game," said Graveney.

"When selecting a squad you have to ensure that everyone has a chance to play. Given that we will be playing at Old Trafford, we felt that Dominic Cork would be unlikely to feature."

The Glamorgan fast bowler Simon Jones, who has yet to make his Test debut, remains in the squad. But England would not expect to play both Jones and Alex Tudor, who bowled tidily in the second Test at Edgbaston.

"We don't yet know what the Old Trafford pitch will be like for next week," Graveney admitted. "Although traditionally hard and with pace, we will have to wait until next week to assess the effect of any rain which it might have had - and we will select the final team accordingly."

The full squad is: Nasser Hussain (captain) (Essex), Mark Butcher (Surrey), Andrew Caddick (Somerset), John Crawley (Hampshire), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Simon Jones (Glamorgan), Alec Stewart (Surrey), Graham Thorpe (Surrey), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Alex Tudor (Surrey), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire).

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