Onions thrilled at England call

Onions has taken 162 wickets in 56 first-class matches

Durham paceman Graham Onions has said that making his England debut against the West Indies at Lord's would be the "pinnacle" of his career.

The 26-year-old has been called up to the Test squad for the first time for the series opener with the Windies, beginning next Wednesday.

"It'll be great to play at Lord's, and to play there with England will be the pinnacle," he told BBC Tees.

"It's a very exciting time and I can't wait to be involved."

The Gateshead-born seamer was called into the England one-day squad in 2006 as cover for the injured Darren Gough and has been a regular member of the England Lions squad since the 2007 tour of Bangladesh.

And his performance in Durham's opening County Championship game of the season against Yorkshire, where he picked up eight wickets, coupled with Steve Harmison's lack of form and Ryan Sidebottom's struggle for fitness led to increased speculation that Onions would receive a call-up to the Test squad.

"You read a lot in the papers and they were saying I was going to be involved," said Onions.

"I didn't really want to believe them because I wanted to keep my feet on the ground."

And despite Durham teammate Harmison enduring a poor tour of the Caribbean, Onions said he was surprised to see his name missing from the 12-man list.

"Steve has been involved for many years now and he's been one of England's best bowlers," said Onions.

"I'm disappointed I can't be with him in the squad, but I know Steve pretty well and I'm sure he'll be back."