The three-match Test series against New Zealand will start on November 18 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
England have announced their squad for the three-match Test series against New Zealand, starting next month. The team is almost the same as the Pakistan series, with only one change – Jamie Smith misses the series due to the birth of his first child.
Jacob Bethell, the 21-year-old left-hand batter who also bowls useful left-arm spin, will take his place in the side. Interestingly, he hasn’t made any First Class century and has only 20 FC games under his belt, but the team has shown trust in him for his superior talent and skillsets, which were also visible during the white-ball series against Australia.
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He has 738 runs at an average of 25.44, including five fifties and the best of 93, in 30 First Class innings. Earlier at the PCA Awards in London last month, Bethell expressed his wish to be an all-format player for England, labelling Test cricket a “dream”.
“It’s nice to tick off two of them [ODIs and T20I] but definitely the best one’s yet to come, hopefully. Test cricket has always been my dream, and I know it’s taken a different shape in the last three years but, definitely, that’s still my dream, to play Test cricket for England.”
Jordan Cox set to make his Test debut as a wicketkeeper batter
Jordan Cox, who was in sensational form in the County Championship Division One, is in line to make his Test debut and play as a wicketkeeper batter in the absence of Jamie Smith. He accumulated 918 runs at an average of 65.57, including four centuries, in 15 innings playing for Essex.
However, he has played only six First Class games as a wicketkeeper and has not kept wickets since June 2023. However, Brendon McCullum has backed him to succeed as a wicketkeeper, terming his keeping “solid”.
“New Zealand is a comfortable place to wicket-keep and it would be great to have a look at Cox. His keeping is solid. He’s actually annoyingly good at everything he does, one of those guys that you look at and say he’s got a high ceiling in terms of talent, particularly with bat in hand.”
Rehan Ahmed and Jordan Cox will travel to New Zealand after their commitments on the West Indies tour. Meanwhile, Ollie Pope, who scored only 55 runs at an average of 11 in five innings in Pakistan, has been backed to come good at No.3.
England Test squad to tour New Zealand: Ben Stokes (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes
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