Durham’s Matthew Potts is pushing for a first Test call-up next week as England’s newly formed triumvirate of Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes start out with a worrying shortage of seam bowlers.
Of the 11 frontline seamers to be capped in the past two years only five are playing in the current round of the County Championship, the last before selection for the first Test against New Zealand on 2 June. Ollie Robinson, among them, has bowled just one over for Sussex against Leicestershire.