Relegated to the second XI a couple of years ago, Afzaal changed into a batsman with a different shot for almost every ball.
But over the past two seasons the left-hander has honed his game into a happy and successful mix of defence and attack. It brought him more than 1,000 championship runs last summer and this term his average is nearly 55.
Afzaal's name was mentioned when England were tinkering with their one-day squad a month ago. The vote then, though, went to Shah and it was expected that the selectors would choose the Middlesex youngster again when their casualty list mounted this week.
Butcher's recall comes after an 18-month absence from the Test arena.
The left-hander was dropped at the end of the South Africa tour and will resume his international career trying to end a sequence of 23 Test innings without a half-century.
