England left out Jonny Bairstow from their squad announced Sunday for the first two Tests of next month’s three-match series against the West Indies, with wicketkeeping duties set to be taken over by the uncapped Jamie Smith.
There was no place in the squad either for Ben Foakes, the first-choice wicketkeeper in a Surrey team where the 23-year-old Smith is often deployed as a specialist batsman.
Smith was one of three uncapped players included in a 14-man squad, with promising seamers Gus Atkinson and Dillon Pennington included as England look to rebuild ahead of the 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia.
But Jack Leach was omitted, with Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir the lone specialist spinner in the squad.
Bairstow won his 100th cap in England’s previous Test, against India in Dharamsala, but a top score of 38 in 10 innings leaves him battling to salvage his career in the five-day game.
Foakes was widely praised for his work in the field as England’s wicketkeeper during their 4-1 series loss in India, but he averages under 30 with the bat in Tests.
Smith, who featured twice in last year’s one-day international series against Ireland, appears more in tune with the aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach England have adopted under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
He made a stunning 155 in 179 balls for the County Championship title holders against Warwickshire earlier in the campaign.
Durham’s Matthew Potts has been recalled, having taken an encouraging 23 wickets at under 30 in six Tests following a debut in 2022.
Bashir, 20, was fast-tracked into the England squad in India and responded with 17 wickets in three Tests.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ