Under the captaincy of Ben Stokes, England has finally cracked their ‘Bazball’ formula under the guidance of head-coach Brendon McCullum, as they are enjoying their time on the back of a 3-0 whitewash over West Indies in the recent series. Most of their batters looked in good rhythm, as the bowlers displayed sharp performance with the ball.
Their opening batter, Zak Crawley, standing at slip, injured his finger while taking a catch during the third Test match of the Caribbean series at Edgbaston in Birmingham and has been ruled out of the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka to end the summer.
The Kent batter hasn’t been part of the London Spirits side in the Hundred, while from the last squad, England left out their pacer Dillon Pennington, who sustained a hamstring injury while playing in the ongoing 100-ball tournament.
Olly Stone and Dan Lawrence mark their return to the Test squad
Crawley’s injury is a huge setback for the national team, as he looked in both touch in the winter and was in a decent tough during the West Indies series. In his place during the second innings of the third Test against the Kraigg Braithwaite-led side, captain Ben Stokes opened the innings and recorded the 24-ball half-century.
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However, with the return of Dan Lawrence to the England side, he is expected to open the batting for the national team. The Essex batter, who played his last Test more than two years ago, which was Joe Root’s last red-ball game as captain, has managed to score 551 runs in 21 innings, at an average of 29 with four half-centuries.
He has batter in every position from number 3-7 during his 11 Tests, but not as the specialist batter. On the other hand, Kent’s wicket-keeper batter Jordan Cox, aged 23, has also received a maiden call-up. In 82 innings, he has notched up 3039 runs, at an average of nearly 40 with 12 fifties and seven centuries having the best score of unbeaten 238-run knock.
Cox is also expected to be England’s back-up wicket-keeper for their Pakistan tour in late autumn. He was enjoying his time with his partner, initially missing the call from the national team’s red-ball head coach.
“I got a text saying, ‘Give me a callback, it’s Baz. I quickly called back – pretty fast, just in case he asked someone else to join the squad… My profile picture on WhatsApp is me putting, and he asked, ‘Did you sink that putt?” The 23-year-old told Sky Sports.
Most of the England fast bowlers did an outstanding job in the West Indies series. But with Pennington’s injury, the selectors have called back Olly Stone, whose last Test came against New Zealand more than three years ago. He is expected to bowl some gas with Mark Wood in case the management decides to rest one of their bowlers.
Jamie Smith, who recorded 207 runs in his first four innings of the format at an average of 51.75, celebrating a couple of fifties, will look to carry the same form in the rest of the summer.
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The first Test against Sri Lanka starts on August 21 at the Emirate Old Trafford, Manchester, which will be followed by another Test at Lord’s starting on August 29. The third and final game of the longest format will take place on September 06 at the Kia Oval in London.
England Test squad vs Sri Lanka
Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone