Wiltshire's Liam Dawson included in England squad to face South Africa

The Hampshire all-rounder, who was born in Swindon and played his cricket for Goatacre, has been named in the 12-man squad for the first of a four-match series, which starts on Thursday, July 6.

Dawson, who is best known for his left-arm spin bowling, made an unbeaten 66 on his test debut against India in the fifth and final test back in December.

Having been hit on the head with only the second delivery he faced, Dawson set about a century stand for the eighth wicket with Adil Rashid (60).

Murali Vijay became Dawson’s first test wicket when he trapped him lbw as he finished with figures of 2-129 but was dismissed for a duck in his second innings as England lost by an innings and 75 runs.

Dawson joins Yorkshire captain Gary Balance and Durham’s Mark Wood in returning to the Test squad, with Middlesex seamer Toby Roland-Jones the only uncapped player in the squad.

Chairman of Selectors James Whitaker said: “There is great excitement around the first Test of the summer and with the start of a new era under the captaincy of Joe Root this is an exciting time for English cricket.

“Toby Roland-Jones is a player we have been monitoring for quite some time and deserves his chance after a strong couple of seasons with Middlesex in red ball cricket.

“He came close last year when he was named in the Test squad against Pakistan in July.

“Toby has been in good form this campaign and his ability to seam the ball along with the fact that he can score useful runs down the order gives us a number of options.

“Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance could play his first Test since October.

“He has been in fantastic touch with the bat in the Championship averaging over 100.

“He deserves to be included and we feel that he will add maturity and experience to our middle-order.

“On behalf of the selectors, I would like to wish Joe Root, Trevor Bayliss and all the squad the very best for what will be a competitive series against South Africa.”