Jacob Bethell will make his England Test debut in the opening Test of the three-match series against New Zealand in Christchurch.
England have named their team for the series opener two days out from the first day’s play on Thursday November 28, with the 21-year-old Warwickshire batter set to come in at No 3.
Bethell, a surprise selection for the series initially, has not yet scored a first-class hundred and has a career average of 25.44. But the youngster has impressed as part of the white-ball set-up since making his debut at the back-end of the summer, with two fifties in his first seven T20 internationals and one half-century in eight ODIs.
Bethell was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for £246,000 as part of the Indian Premier League auction on Monday, seeing him join fellow England team-mates Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone at the franchise for his maiden IPL campaign.
Ollie Pope will keep wicket for England in the first Test in the absence of Jordan Cox, who fractured his right thumb during practice last weekend in Queenstown. Pope also drops down to No 6 in the order.
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Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain discuss how having to play as wicketkeeper in the first Test against New Zealand could affect Ollie Pope
Cox had been set to deputise for Jamie Smith behind the stumps, who misses the series while preparing for the birth of his first child.
England’s bowling attack selected for the first Test consists of Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse as the three seamers – with captain Ben Stokes a fourth option – and Shoaib Bashir getting the nod over Jack Leach as the front-line spinner.
Leach, as well as leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed and pace options Olly Stone and Matthew Potts sit out the first Test.
Thorpe and Crowe honoured in new NZ vs England trophy
Former England batter Graham Thorpe, who passed away earlier this year, has been honoured alongside ex-New Zealand captain, the late Martin Crowe, as part of a new trophy that New Zealand and England will compete for in the series.
The Crowe-Thorpe Trophy, a collaboration between New Zealand Cricket, the ECB and the families of each player, will be unveiled on the morning of the first Test.
A section from the bat Thorpe used to score his first two Test centuries against New Zealand – in consecutive Tests in 1997 – has been used as part of the trophy, his handwriting detailing the two scores lifted off the face.
The bat donated by the Crowe family was the GM that Martin used for his hundred against England at Lord’s in 1994.
Both were hugely successful Test batsmen in their time: Crowe averaged 45.36 and posted 17 centuries, with a highest score of 299, while Thorpe averaged 44.66, with 16 centuries and a highest score of 200 not out – against New Zealand in 2002.
England’s Test tour of New Zealand
- First Test: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
- Second Test: December 6-10 (Wellington)
- Third Test: December 14-18 (Hamilton)
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