GLEN Chapple says he can't wait to get his England career started, after the Lancashire all-rounder was called up to the one-day squad along with teammate Sajid Mahmood.

Chapple has been in red hot form for Lancashire this season, with both bat and ball, and selection to face the Sri Lankans is fully deserved.

"I am certainly ready and raring to go," he stated. "I heard a little bit of a rumour a couple of days ago, but I just tried to block it out because I knew that I had been down that road before.

"I am obviously delighted with the call and I think it's just one of those situations where I have coupled being in the right place at the right time with being in good form too."

Although it would be unfair to suggest that the 32 year-old's selection is purely based on the England injury situation, it must have had some part to play. Even so, that isn't something that is worrying England's new all-rounder.

"It's obviously played some part in their thinking. But I am going to go along with an open mind and get on with it. I have played a lot of cricket in my career and now I just have to adapt to a different situation and make sure I enjoy it."

Enjoyment has been the key to Chapple's 2006 which has yielded 292 runs and 23 wickets in six County Championship games. In fact, he flatly dismissed his international chances on the first day of the new season.

"I decided last winter just to enjoy what I would be doing with Lancashire and forget about anything else," he explained. "I was wrong though."

Chapple says he hasn't spoken to Sajid Mahmood or his close friend Andrew Flintoff, who has been rested due to ankle troubles.

But Bolton bowler Mahmood says he was in a different situation to his county colleague because he always expected the call.

"I don't think I did anything wrong in the Tests, and the five wickets (at Liverpool) will have helped," he said.

The Lancashire pair will both miss at least three weeks of county action, which includes Sunday's C&G tie against Derbyshire, the two Championship games at Warwickshire and Middlesex and then the first week of Twenty20 action.