The Pompey defender had been a regular in Stuart Pearce's set-up until breaking his leg while on loan at QPR.

That was six months ago, the majority of which has been spent on slugging it out on the long road to recovery.

Now he's back in the England fray for tonight's friendly with Wales at Wrexham's Memorial Ground.

It was a call-up which came as a surprise to Cranie, despite Pearce and assistant Steve Wigley being regulars at Pompey's reserves in recent weeks.

And the 21-year-old only learnt of his recall on Sky Sports News.

He said: 'It's obviously nice to get called back into the squad after a long lay-off. 'It's six months since my last under-21 game.

'I had four months out through injury and two months after that, so it's been quite a long time.

'I wasn't really aware Stuart Pearce had been watching me in the reserves. I'm just delighted to be called back in.

'Mind you, I didn't even know there was a game coming up.

'It wasn't until watching Sky Sports News that I found I was in the squad.

'The letter must have come when I had left the training ground that day. Still, at least I made it.

'I feel fine now. My fitness is good – it will be nice to go out on a high at the end of the season in the under-21s game.

'Then I can look forward to pushing on next season and getting some more first-team games.

'I'm in the under-21 set-up and in and around the squad at Pompey, so things are going well to be honest.'