England’s red-ball new dawn has seen two uncapped 23-year-olds get their first chance of international glory and second chances handed to the country’s two most experienced bowlers, as the team seek to improve their recently moribund fortunes under the stewardship of Brendon McCullum.
As widely trailed by the side’s new captain, Ben Stokes, the 13-man squad for the first two Tests of a three-match series against McCullum’s compatriots from New Zealand, at Lord’s and Trent Bridge next month, features both James Anderson and Stuart Broad, first and third respectively on England’s all-time most-capped list.
They return to the fold after being left out of the squad that toured West Indies in March, and with Rob Key, the managing director of England men’s cricket, promising an end to the previous policy of regularly resting the senior bowlers in an attempt to manage their workload. “I think we’re just going to pick the best team we possibly can to try and win the game,” Key said. “I think we’ll try to make the most of them while we’ve still got them.”
Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, who with 758 runs in eight County Championship innings at an average of 151.6 has been the outstanding domestic batter of the English summer so far, gets his first Test call-up – he made his Twenty20 debut in January – alongside Durham’s Matthew Potts, whose current haul of 35 wickets is 11 more than any other bowler in either division.
Key said the pair had been “rewarded for outstanding starts to the county season and deserve an opportunity to stake a claim at this level”. Brook may find his route to the starting XI blocked by Jonny Bairstow, who has not played a first-class game since the end of the West Indies tour and is currently playing T20 cricket for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League but will return if fit at No 5. Potts’s path, however, has been cleared by a spate of injuries to international bowlers.
Ollie Robinson, who after a string of ailments has most recently been affected by food poisoning, is left out of the squad because of a lack of cricket, joining Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher on the sidelines. “It’s definitely a concern and trying to find out why this is happening is something we need to look into,” Key said. “But I like the look of Matt Potts. I think actually, they have all the data and all of that stuff over the last few years but that’s a reflection of history whereas this year I’m pretty excited by what he offers. We see him as a point of difference.”
New Zealand won the inaugural World Test Championship last year, when they also at times outclassed England in winning a two-match Test series, and currently sit third in the Test rankings, well ahead of the sixth-placed England side, but Key said he expected this year’s meetings to be closely contested.
“This is the start of a new era for our Test team under the stewardship of Ben and Brendon,” he said. “With a blend of youth and experience, we have selected an exciting squad that can compete with New Zealand. It promises to be a mouthwatering series, and I can’t wait for the team to start against a very good New Zealand side. It is a fascinating prospect for everyone connected with the sport in this country.”
The squad was selected by Key, McCullum and Stokes, with input from others including the England and Wales Cricket Board’s performance director, Mo Bobat, the head scout, James Taylor, and the player identification lead, David Court.
England Test squad: Ben Stokes (Durham, captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Jack Leach (Somerset), Alex Lees (Durham), Craig Overton (Somerset), Matthew Potts (Durham), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire).
