KENT wicketkeeper Geraint Jones will again reach for his well-thumbed passport in March after being selected today for England’s Test tour of the West Indies.

Born in Papua New Guinea, raised in Australia, and first-blooded in Wales, Jones enjoyed the cut and thrust of his first England tour in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh before Christmas.

But, as he prepares to pack his dog-eared passport for yet another trip, the 27-year-old keeper-batsman is well aware this three-month Caribbean tour will be even more intense than his Sri Lankan sojourn.

Organisers have crammed in four Tests, seven one-day internationals played out under intense heat, on concrete-hard pitches and against a barrage of West Indies quick bowlers. Jones is under no illusion -- the Caribbean cricket kitchen will be a warm one.

“It is a different mind set for sure, for Sri Lanka I prepared by facing and keeping to loads of spin, but this time around the emphasis will be on pace and seam,” said Jones during a break in Kent net sessions.

“Sri Lanka had Muralitharan to come on after 20 overs but the West Indies don’t have a lethal spinner, so we see that as our chance to get established batting wise once we’ve overcome the opening pace barrage.”

On a more personal note, Jones said: “When I look back over my life and career in the last 14 months there have been massive changes, but I’m getting a taste for the international game and the touring and I’m really looking forward to this next step up.”

Between now and his departure in March, Jones will working on his glovework and batting with new Kent coach Paul Farbrace in an effort to turn up the heat on England’s first-choice keeper, Nottinghamshire’s Chris Read.

“I’m fairly happy with my keeping at the moment, but there’s an opportunity to push that on now and I see no reason why I can’t at least be on a par with ‘Ready’,” added Jones.

“I’ve planned an intense net schedule in Canterbury and then we have an England training camp in Loughborough next month.

“By the time we get to the West Indies I hope to be in the best possible shape and ready to take any opportunity comes my way.

“I know Chris will get first chance in the West Indies, as he did in Sri Lanka, but there’s a bit of pressure on him to contribute some runs too.

“If he doesn’t do that, then I may get a game.”

The sole drawback for Jones will be his likely absence for the start of Kent’s domestic campaign, but he has every confidence in the ability of his understudy Niall O’Brien.

“Last season Niall spent loads of time in and around the nets working hard on his game and I’m sure he won’t let anyone down,” he added

“He’s showed in the 2nd XI last summer that he’s capable of scoring runs and Kent will need that from him.

“He’ll fill my boots well I reckon, but I’ll want my place back as soon as I return.”

Sadly, there was no place in the party for Jones’s Kent team-mate Martin Saggers.

The former Durham seamer won a surprise Test debut against Bangladesh last November, but was unable to land a place in England’s latest 15-man squad.

Full squad: Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire, Capt) James Anderson (Lancashire) Gareth Batty (Worcestershire) Mark Butcher (Surrey) Rikki Clarke (Surrey) Paul Collingwood (Durham) Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) Ashley Giles (Warwickshire) Stephen Harmison (Durham) Nasser Hussain (Essex) Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire) Geraint Jones (Kent) Chris Read (Nottinghamshire) Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) Graham Thorpe (Surrey).