The flanker has been rewarded for his consistently good performances in recent weeks and joins club mates Lee Dickson, Ben Foden, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood in Stuart Lancaster's squad, which was announced this lunchtime.
There are nods for Paul Doran Jones and Phil Dowson, too, with both being included in the Saxons EPS.
"The fact that we have spent significant time deliberating over quite a few players shows how tough the competition is to get into this 65 and the strength in depth that is emerging," Lancaster commented. "We have made some changes to both squads and we feel that reflects the players' form during the first half of the season. There will be undoubtedly be movement between the two squads as we go through the Six Nations and that was evident in the Autumn Internationals.
"This is a very important year for England, with the Six Nations and the Saxons games to look forward to so there are some great opportunities for the players to demonstrate their club form at international level. The summer tour to Argentina will also be a great chance for those players pushing for a place, especially with some of our senior squad hopefully going with the Lions, and chances will undoubtedly arise as we hope to play two midweek games as well as the two Tests."
The Senior squad will attend a training camp at West Park Leeds RFC between Sunday, January 20th and Friday, January 25th before meeting up at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot on Sunday, January 27th to prepare for England's Six Nations opener against Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday, February 2nd.
The Saxons will meet up on Monday, January 21st at Surrey Sports Park ahead of their match against the Ireland Wolfhounds in Galway on Friday, January 25th.
ENGLAND SENIOR ELITE PLAYER SQUAD
FORWARDS
Calum Clark (Northampton Saints), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (London Wasps), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers), David Wilson (Bath), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
BACKS
Chris Ashton (Saracens), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Freddie Burns (Gloucester), Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), David Strettle (Saracens), Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
ENGLAND SAXONS ELITE PLAYER SQUAD
FORWARDS
Mouritz Botha (Saracens), Nathan Catt (Bath), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Paul Doran Jones (Northampton Saints), Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints), Will Fraser (Saracens), Joe Gray (Harlequins), Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers), Shaun Knight (Gloucester), Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors), Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors), David Paice (London Irish), Tom Palmer (London Wasps), George Robson (Harlequins), Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), Billy Vunipola (London Wasps)
BACKS
Nick Abendanon (Bath), Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers), Tom Biggs (Bath), Elliott Daly (London Wasps), Kyle Eastmond (Bath), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), George Lowe (Harlequins), Jonny May (Gloucester), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), Joe Simpson (London Wasps), Charlie Sharples (Gloucester), Joel Tomkins (Saracens), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Christian Wade (London Wasps), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
