Carberry called to cover Collingwood

England have called up Michael Carberry, the uncapped Hampshire left-hander, as cover for Paul Collingwood ahead of the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Collingwood dislocated the index finger on his left hand during fielding practice before the fourth day's play in Durban and didn't take any further part in the match. X-rays showed no fracture, and England are confident he will be fit for the New Year Test, but with only three days between matches the management are covering all bases.

"We are very hopeful he will be fine," said Andrew Strauss, "but until he holds a bat and does some fielding we won't really know, so we'll just have to give it a couple of days."

Carberry was part of the England Performance Programme (EPP) stationed in Pretoria prior to the first Test. England's original squad only included six specialist batsmen and once they were all named in the starting XI for the first two Tests it always left the possibility that they would be short should injury strike.

Luke Wright is another option if a replacement is needed, but his inclusion would alter the successful balance of the side which has helped them take a 1-0 lead after the innings-and-98-run victory in Durban. Ian Bell, who has batted at No. 6 in this series, scored 140 at Kingsmead to earn England a decisive lead.

Carberry holds a category A contract with the EPP which means he is rated as being the closest to making the step up to international cricket. Carberry scored 1251 runs at 69.50 in 12 County Championship matches last season with four hundreds until a broken finger ruled him out of the end of the campaign.

During his stint with the EPP at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria he hit a century against Gauteng and is also renowned as one of the best fielders in county cricket.