Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Stephan Shemilt
- Role, Chief cricket writer at Lord’s
Pace bowler Gus Atkinson will make his Test debut in England’s series opener against West Indies at Lord’s on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old joins Chris Woakes and the retiring James Anderson as the specialist seamers.
Atkinson’s Surrey team-mate Jamie Smith, 23, will also make his Test bow behind the stumps, a move confirmed when he was named in the squad ahead of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes.
Atkinson, who has played nine one-day internationals and three T20s, was part of the England squad for the Test tour of India earlier this year, but did not feature.
Smith usually plays for Surrey as a specialist batter with Foakes taking the gloves, although he was England’s keeper for the two one-day internationals he played against Ireland last year.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, picked in the England squad ahead of his Somerset team-mate Jack Leach, plays his first home Test after winning three caps on the tour of India.
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
‘Fresh look’
Overall, England have a fresh look for the first Test in the three-match series against the Windies.
There are four changes from the side heavily beaten in the final Test of the 4-1 series defeat in India and four from the last home Test against Australia at The Oval last July.
Leach, Foakes and Bairstow have been left out, while 41-year-old Anderson has been told this will be the last international match of a record-breaking career that has seen him become England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker.
Atkinson, capable of bowling at high pace, has taken 59 wickets in 19 first-class matches. He gets the nod ahead of Matthew Potts and the uncapped Dillon Pennington, who are the other seamers in the squad.
Smith has long been touted as a future England prospect. An attractive stroke-maker, he averages more than 40 in first-class cricket and in excess of 56 in the County Championship this season.
Along with the debutants, batter Harry Brook returns at number five after missing the tour of India to be with his ill grandmother, who passed away in March.
Woakes also plays his first Test since last summer after being overlooked for the tour of India despite being named player of the series in the Ashes.
Perhaps most importantly for England, captain Ben Stokes looks set to be able to play a full part as a bowler after being plagued by a long-term left-knee injury.
The all-rounder had surgery in November and tentatively returned to bowling in India before accelerating his rehab in three County Championship matches for Durham.
Stokes bowled a substantial spell in the nets at Lord’s on Tuesday, with England able to practice outside despite the mixed weather in London.