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England have named two debutants in their team for the first match of the summer, and James Anderson’s final Test against the West Indies.
Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith will earn their first caps in a match that will be dominated by fans, players, pundits and the like bidding farewell to Anderson after his 22 years of international cricket.
England have called up Atkinson before, for the five-Test tour of India in the winter of 2024, but he went unused as the team slumped to a 4-1 defeat.
Brendon McCullum had hinted at the end of that tour that Atkinson’s chance would come, and it has in the first Test of the English summer.
After selecting Jonny Bairstow to keep in last summer’s Ashes, and trusting Ben Foakes with the gloves in India, England turn to Smith, a wicketkeeper who does not keep for his county (Surrey), where Foakes is the first-choice gloveman.
Smith has scored two centuries this season, including one in the round of fixtures just before the Test, in difficult conditions against Essex, and it is his impressive batting that has seen him fast-tracked into the national side.
Atkinson has been preferred to Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts for the first Test, which will also be a key moment for Shoaib Bashir, who made his international debut in India, but has yet to play a Test in England.
Chris Woakes also returns to add some experience to the attack alongside James Anderson, having last played Test cricket in the 2023 Ashes.
England Team
1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Ben Stokes *
7. Jamie Smith +
8. Chris Woakes
9. Gus Atkinson
10. Shoaib Bashir
11. James Anderson
