Norwich City keeper John Ruddy returned to the England fold yesterday when he was named in Roy Hodgson's squad for next week's friendly against Scotland,

It is the City number one's first call-up since last August, when he made his debut in the freindly against Italy, not long after a broken finger ruled him out of the European Championship campaign.

Ruddy, 26, joins Joe Hart and Ben Foster in the squad to face the Scots, who include fellow Norwich players Russell Martin, Robert Snodgrass and Steven Whittaker. Ruddy will be working under the watchful eye of City and England goalkeeping coach Dave Watson.

The Scotland game is just three days before the start of the season and while Canaries boss Chris Hughton will be keeping his fingers crossed that all his international stars return home safely, there is perhaps added concern over Ruddy, who missed the friendly against Real Sociedad on Tuesday because of a back problem, having missed most of last season with injury.

Hughton has seven players on international duty - Wes Hoolahan is in the Republic of Ireland squad for their friendly against Wales; full-back Martin Olsson has been named in the Sweden squad which faces Norway in Stockholm and striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel will find out today whether he has been retained from Holland's provisional squad for their game against Portugal.

Nathan Redmond is in the England Under-21s squad to face Scotland at Bramall Lane on Tuesday.

Hodgson will be in charge for that game, following the departure of Stuart Pearce, but all eyes will be on who he plays against the Scots.

His squad includes a first-time call-up for Southampton's Rickie Lambert.

With Wilfried Zaha's inclusion widely predicted, Lambert's selection by Roy Hodgson was the major surprise.

Zaha's Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney has also been picked despite not playing any pre-season games due to hamstring and shoulder injuries.

Rooney has only played one match this summer - a pre-season friendly against Real Betis behind closed doors.

Hodgson admits the 27-year-old, who has been the subject of two rejected bids from Chelsea this summer, may not be fully fit for the match against the Scots, but insists it was still worth including the striker in his squad.

'It's pretty obvious that he is not fully match fit but the important thing is to have him with us in the squad and to assess how many minutes he can play in the game,' the England manager said.

'I have spoken to David Moyes (Manchester United manager) and he understands it is important to have Wayne with us and Wayne himself of course wants to be a part of the England set-up coming into these important games.

'It might not be ideal. He hasn't played the minutes we would have liked during pre-season but it is very good that he is going to be available to join us.'