Stuart Broad joined the England squad on standby yesterday as Nottinghamshire emerged among the front-runners to sign the 21-year-old fast bowler if he leaves Leicestershire at the end of the season. Surrey joined Warwickshire last night in confirming their interest, while Lancashire and Hampshire also want to speak to the player.

Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire director of cricket, declined to confirm or deny his intentions, but Broad is known to have a strong emotional attachment to Trent Bridge, where his father, Chris, played from 1984-92. Broad Jr went through the Leicestershire system after his mother relocated when his parents split.

Broad Sr used a move from Gloucestershire to Trent Bridge to launch his England career 23 years ago and his son has spoken in the past of childhood games in front of the main scoreboard while the main action continued in the middle. Nottinghamshire, second in the second division of the LV County Championship, would be even more of a draw if they secure promotion.

His present contract expires at the end of the season and, should he decline to renew at Grace Road, it is sure to spark the most hotly contested movement of the winter. The fact that appearances at county level will be restricted by England commitments if he continues to develop at his present rate will not deter suitors.

It has become a fact of cricketing life that counties with Test-match grounds – or at least with realistic ambitions of staging international cricket – are better equipped to offer the most lucrative deals. Leicestershire, however, hope that Broad will look beyond the pound signs. Tim Boon, the Leicestershire coach, said: “Various counties have expressed an interest, but to me it seems ideal for him to stay here, where he has been since the age of 9 and where he has support, practice facilities, everything he needs. We are a small club, but we are going to make one or two signings who will make us very competitive.”

At present, clubs can only inform Leicestershire that they want to contact Broad in due course and Neil Fairbrother, his agent – who also represents Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan, among others – is keen that Broad should not be distracted until the end of the season.

Barring injury to James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom or Chris Tremlett in the build-up to the second npower Test match against India that starts to-day, Broad will be driven back to Aber-gavenny for the county match against Glamorgan this morning. With play washed out again yesterday, he was able to join the England squad a few hours earlier than expected.

England were forced to practise indoors at Loughborough, but, with a bit of ingenuity, they managed to replicate most of the outdoor drills. They could work on diving catches, for example, but only once mats had been liberally sprinkled with talcum powder to prevent burning and chafing on contact.

Despite missing out on an expected debut in the first Test at Lord’s, Broad remains in the thoughts of the selectors. When Vaughan, the captain, ducked questions about the make-up of his first-choice bowling attack, it was probably because he genuinely does not know the answer.

“It will be nice to have them all ready and bowling well, but until that day arises it will be difficult to state who would get in,” he said. “There will be tough decisions to make. We look like we are getting to a stage where we have a good pool of bowlers, but with all the games we play, we will probably need them.”

Test details

England: M P Vaughan (Yorkshire, captain), A N Cook (Essex), A J Strauss (Middlesex), K P Pietersen (Hampshire), P D Collingwood (Durham), I R Bell (Warwickshire), M J Prior (Sussex), R J Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), J M Anderson (Lancashire), M S Panesar (Northamptonshire), C T Tremlett (Hampshire).

India (from): R Dravid (captain), K D Karthik, W Jaffer, S R Tendulkar, S C Ganguly, V V S Laxman, M S Dhoni, A Kumble, Z Khan, S Sreesanth, R P Singh, Yuvraj Singh.

Umpires: S J A Taufel (Australia) and I L Howell (South Africa). Third umpire: N J Llong.

Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Television: Sky Sports 1: Live coverage from 10.30am; highlights, 1am-3am. Sky Sports 2: Highlights, 9pm-11pm. Five: Highlights, 7.15pm-8pm.

Radio: BBC 4 LW (198 LW): Live coverage from 10.45am. Five Live Sports Extra: Live coverage from 10.45am.

Five-day weather forecast

Sunny intervals and occasional light showers today and tomorrow, with maximum temperatures about 22c (71f). Persistent rain may disrupt play on Sunday, before the return of sunny spells and the threat of showers for the last two days.