Harry Brook
(Picture: Getty Images)England have rewarded Yorkshire’s Harry Brook and Durham’s Matt Potts for their outstanding starts to the County Championship season with maiden Test call-ups, for the first two Tests against New Zealand next month.
The two 23-year-olds are eye-catching selections in a squad that also sees James Anderson and Stuart Broad recalled, and appears to indicate a shift to No3 for Ollie Pope for the first time in his first-class career.
Otherwise, the squad is much the same as the one that lost 1-0 in the Caribbean in March, despite an overhaul of management that sees Ben Stokes installed as captain, Brendon McCullum as Test coach, and Rob Key as managing director.
The group will assemble at St George’s Park, English football’s base, next week for testing and to get to know their new head coach.
McCullum will initially be supported by the familiar backroom staff of Paul Collingwood, Marcus Trescothick, Jon Lewis and Jeetan Patel. Key chaired the selection meeting, with input coming from McCullum, Stokes, head scout James Taylor and performance director Mo Bobat.
While the opening pair of Zak Crawley, who has struggle for form with Kent, and Alex Lees remains, there are tweaks to the order below then, with Joe Root moving back to No4 and Stokes to No6.
Dan Lawrence’s hamstring injury has created an opportunity at No3 for Pope, who has averaged 69.5 for Surrey this summer. Jonny Bairstow looks set to bat No5, having been at the IPL, although will receive competition from Brook, the leading runscorer in the County Championship this summer.
Ben Foakes is retained as wicketkeeper and is in line to play a home Test for the first time. While he put in an underwhelming performance when recalled in the Caribbean, he has made an outstanding start to the Championship summer with Surrey, averaging 98.75.
Among the bowlers, the Somerset duo of Craig Overton and Jack Leach remain, with Potts, who already has 35 wickets this season (many of them in front of Stokes), providing competition. Ollie Robinson misses out having endured an extremely disjointed year due to a lack of fitness, but should play for Sussex against New Zealand on Friday.
Leach’s retention means there is no place for Matt Parkinson, despite an excellent start to the season with Lancashire that has seen him take 23 wickets at an average of 23.
Anderson, 39, and Broad, 35, were left out of the tour of the West Indies as England looked to the future following a dismal Ashes. But a series of injuries – and their own ongoing excellence – made their returns inevitable.
England are without Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher all summer, plus Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Olly Stone for this series at least. Chris Woakes and Sam Curran are still feeling their way back to fitness.
“This is the start of a new era for our Test team under the stewardship of Ben and Brendon,” said Key. “With a blend of youth and experience, we have selected an exciting squad that can compete with New Zealand in next month's Test series.
“We have rewarded players in Harry Brook and Matty Potts who have had outstanding starts to the county season, and they deserve the opportunity to stake a claim at this level.
“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.”
