Dernbach missed an England Lions debut through injury

Surrey bowler Jade Dernbach says he intends to the make the most of his call-up to the England performance programme's tour of Australia.

The 24-year-old took 46 wickets in the County Championship Division Two this season and hopes to maintain that form.

Dernbach said: "I think I've gone on to achieve a lot of the targets I set out at the beginning of the summer.

"Showing off your skills in front of people in power is a great opportunity, I want to grasp that with both hands."

Dernbach, who was born in South Africa, was called up to the Lions one-day squad earlier this summer but missed the series through injury and is now determined to make up for it in the performance programme.

He added: "It's is definitely something that's been on my mind, especially after getting selected for the one-day series, unfortunately the injury got in the way of that.

"That was always the outlook for me to get on that squad and now I'm just hoping to impress and just see where that takes me. I like the feeling of pressure, I think that's where I perform best and there's no better arena to do that than when you're at the top.

"I'm pretty lucky that I've been over to Australia two or three times and played over there so I'm quite familiar with the surroundings and the situations you find yourself in, so I'm looking forward to the opportunity."

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