The England Cricket Board has released the 14-player team that has been selected to play for England in the forthcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to start later this month. Their official website published the list.
With Ben Stokes at the head, the ECB’s chosen squad mostly consists of the same players as the team that played the West Indies for multiple Test matches in July. However, there have been a few significant changes.
Zak Crawley, the first hitter in the series, will miss the entire run because he broke his right little finger during the third Test match against the West Indies. Crawley struggled to sustain form for the rest of the series, even though he scored a respectable 76 in the first Test. After getting well from this injury, he intends to come back stronger.
Dillon Pennington, a right-arm medium pacer, is another notable absence from the lineup. Pennington suffered a hamstring injury during a game for the Northern Superchargers in the most recent edition of The Hundred, and will miss the entire series. Despite being included in the Windies Test team, he was denied the opportunity to make his debut for his country.
The middle-order hitter, Jordan Cox, 23, has an outstanding First-Class record and has been added to the team. At an average of 39.46, he has amassed 3,039 runs in 82 innings, including seven hundreds and twelve half-centuries.
Olly Stone, a right-arm pacer, would be looking to add more Test caps to his collection and would be excited to play. For the first time since 2021, he rejoins the red-ball team.
Also Read: Dillon Pennington will miss the Sri Lankan Tests of The Hundred due to a hamstring issue
England will look to increase their command over the islands and strengthen their commanding lead over Sri Lanka in terms of wins in the longest version of the game.
England’s 14-member squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka: Ben Duckett, Jordan Cox, Joe Root, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook, Chris Woakes, Jamie Smith (wk), Matthew Potts, Olly Stone, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson.