Last Updated on 20 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
England’s first assignment post the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era is three Tests against Pakistan starting August 19 at Headingley. The hosts named their 16-man squad on Thursday, with Dan Lawrence called to replace Stokes in the middle order.
England are looking to arrest a poor run of form. They have lost seven of their past nine matches, including an era-ending 2-1 series defeat to New Zealand earlier this summer. Pakistan, meanwhile, enter the series off a morale-boosting victory in the second Test against West Indies at Port-of-Spain.
Joe Root is back as captain, while Ollie Pope returns to the squad after he was dropped in the Ashes.
England possible playing 11 for series opener against Pakistan at Headingley
1. Ben Duckett, 2. Emilio Gay, 3. Jordan Cox, 4. Joe Root (c), 5. Harry Brook, 6. Dan Lawrence, 7. Jamie Smith (wk), 8. Gus Atkinson, 9. Jofra Archer, 10. Ollie Robinson, 11. Josh Tongue
With Jacob Bethell injured, Jordan Cox is tipped to bat three. Cox averages 43.17 in First Class cricket with 4,145 runs and 12 centuries in 64 matches. This includes 204 for Essex in the 2026 County Championship.
According to Cricinfo’s Matt Roller, England are likely to pick four fast bowlers with Root and Lawrence to take up the spin duties. Ollie Robinson is a strong chance of featuring for the first time since his player-of-the-match performance against New Zealand at Lord’s, where he started with a triple-wicket maiden.
However, there is no certainty that all of Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue will feature right away in this series as it begins just three days after The Hundred concludes. Matthew Fisher and Sam Cook are the other seam-bowling options in the squad.
Why wasn’t Sam Curran picked?
Sam Curran was widely tipped to be Ben Stokes’ replacement, but injury concerns means England have opted for a different option. However, England’s national selector Marcus North is hopeful Curran will be available for the third Test.
“At this stage with a couple of niggles – we’ve seen he’s missed a game in the Hundred – we don’t feel physically he’s quite there,” said North, as quoted by Telegraph Sport.
“[It would be] unfair to put him into these first two Tests. He’s someone our backroom staff and medical team will be working with in the coming weeks to make sure he potentially becomes an option in the third Test. He’s someone we really value highly and we see playing a role in the future as an all-rounder.”
England squad for first two Tests: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue.
