KENT’S veteran left-arm spinner Min Patel could be set to win a third Test cap almost 10 years since his last England appearance.

The 35-year-old spin-bowler and former Dartford Grammar School pupil may be in line to answer an England SOS by flying to Pakistan to play in next week’s Lahore Test.

With Ashes hero Ashley Giles struggling for form and fitness on tour with a persistent hip injury that is likely to require surgery, England's selectors have formed a contingency plan by placing Patel and his Lancashire counterpart Gary Keedy on stand-by.

Both Patel and 31-year-old Keedy were sent for intensive practice sessions at the ECB Academy in Loughborough last week and, depending Giles' progress and the reports of chairman of selectors David Graveney and academy coach Peter Moores, either of the slow left-armer spinners could fly out ahead of next Tuesday’s third and final Test.

Patel said: "To pull on an England sweater and have the chance to play international cricket once again would be great, especially after all this time, but I’d like to think I am in their thinking through merit.

"I’ve stayed fit for Kent all summer and felt I bowled as well as ever in four-day cricket."

He added: "I was put through my paces in Loughborough, had a medical and jabs just in case I am called up and had a bit of a bowl. Now it’s just a case of seeing how well Ashley Giles holds up in Pakistan and whether they call up me or Keeds (Gary Keedy).

"The England managment are treating Gilo’s situation on a day-to-day basis really, he’s had cortisone injections to try and get him through but you can never be sure what effect they have or how long they last. I guess it’s just a case of waiting on the telephone call now."

Patel, who was born in Bombay, won the last of his two Test caps against India at Trent Bridge on July 4, 1996 but his two England appearances were hardly memorable.

He bowled just 10 wicketless overs and hit 22 on a victorious Test debut at Edgbaston that summer, then took one for 148 in the drawn third Test at Trent Bridge, bagging Sanjay Manjrekar, who nowadaus commentates for Sky Sports, as his sole Test victim.

Though his career has been ravaged by injury, Patel has undergone cruciate re-constructions to both knees as well as spinal fusion surgery two years ago. Yet he bounced back to claim 59 wickets last summer and was a championship ever-present for the county.

If selected to join the tour party it seems likely Patel will stay on for the five-match, one-day international series starting in Lahore on Saturday, December 10 which concludes four days before Christmas.