England’s Cricket Governing Body, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced England’s 16-member squad for the team’s upcoming Test-Series tour of New Zealand on Tuesday, 29th of October.
The Kiwis and the Three Lions will be battling it out against each other in a three-match Test-Series in the months of November & December.
The squad of the Ben Stokes-led team features an exciting new addition in the form of 21-year-old wonderkid Jacob Bethell, a talented Batting All-rounder hailing from Warwickshire. Bethell has been handed his debut five-day format call-up after making his debut in One Day International and T20 International earlier this year.
Bethell, who is well-known for his aggressive intent with the bat and skilled left-arm spin bowling, gained the attention of the English selectors versus Australia and now he’s set to make his debut in the longest format of the game as well.
The 21-year-old is currently with England’s limited overs team in the Caribbean islands and he will join the Test team for the tour of the Black Caps after completing his white-ball duties alongside the duo of Jordan Cox and Rehan Ahmed. Wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Smith will be absent from the tour of New Zealand due to his paternity leave responsibilities.
Since Jamie will be busy in welcoming his first kid in to this world, Cox will be taking his place in the team and will be making his maiden Test appearance as the wicketkeeper-batsman of the Ben Stokes-led team in the forthcoming three-match Test Series versus the 2021 WTC winners, starting from 28th of November onwards in the Hagley Oval Stadium of Christchurch.
Apart from this, no other changes have been made in England’s Test-Squad and it’s similar to their squad versus Pakistan.
England’s squad for the Three-match Test-Series versus New Zealand
Ben Stokes (Captain), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Rehan Ahmed, Jacob Bethell, Zak Crawley, Jordan Cox (WK), Brydon Carse, Ollie Pope (Vice-Captain), Jack Leach, Olly Stone, Matthew Pots, Ben Duckett and Joe Root.
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For more information, visit the official websites of England Cricket and ICC