Graeme Swann - seven years in the wilderness ended

The England One-day squad to tour Sri Lanka was announced to the public yesterday but Graeme Swann had known since Saturday night that he was included in the 15 names on the list. The call "came out of the blue" he told Sky Sports News yesterday, and perhaps because he does seem such a genuinely nice guy, this remark did not come across as disingenuous.

His delight at being included was clear to see, but looking at the season he's had, and thinking of Peter Moores's public committment to examining performances across the county game, Swann is a fairly obvious choice.

In the Pro40 Championship (Nottinghamshire are sitting third in the Division One table), Graeme has taken 11 wickets at 11.18. In the Twenty20 version of the game, he ended with 10 wickets at 12.10 (economy of 6.05) and his batting average was more than respectable at 25.60. Although primarily selected this time as a spin bowler, his figures this season suggest that Wisden were not hugely wide of the mark when (back in 1998 after Graeme had toured South Africa and Zimbabwe with the England A team) the comment was made that he had the potential to become a genuine all-rounder.

Should he be selected to play in Sri Lanka, we will see if the years between his One-day debut in 2000 and now have been as well spent in the counties as we are all hoping. Graeme has very publicly - not least in the weekly slot he had on Radio 5 Live's Saturday morning sports show - praised the coaches, players and whole set-up at Nottingham for bringing him back to form, and confidence.

No doubt all of Graeme's 315 Facebook friends will be wishing him well.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]