James Anderson, Stuart Broad as Back England Named for Playing XI vs New Zealand England have recalled veteran pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad were ruled out of England’s last Test series.
England has recalled veteran pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad in their squad for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on Thursday, while they made debut pacer Matthew Potts. Anderson, 39, and Broad, 35, two of England’s most successful bowlers to date, with 1,177 wickets between them, were both controversially dropped for their 1-0 series loss to the West Indies earlier this year. But they returned to an XI named a day earlier for the first match under the new leadership pair of England captain Ben Stokes and former New Zealand captain, coach Brendon McCullum.
After an injury crisis deprived England of several fast bowlers including Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Fischer and Ollie Stone, Potts was expected to overtake fellow squad member Craig Overton.
Potts, 23, has been selected for an excellent start to the county season, taking 35 wickets for Durham in his opening six County Championship matches.
England had previously cleared some doubts about their side for this opening match of the three-Test series, indicating that Jonny Bairstow would bat at number five, with Ollie Pope pencilling in on the first wicket.
This means Bairstow’s in-form Yorkshire ally Harry Brooke will have to wait for his Test debut.
Brook has scored 840 runs in this campaign at an average of 140 but hasn’t made a familiar-looking top six.
England is currently at the bottom of the World Test Championship table after a disappointing performance in 17 matches with one win.
New Zealand, who are yet to name their squad, are world Test champions after defeating India in last year’s inaugural final in Southampton.
Both Stokes and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson are scheduled to hold a press conference at Lord’s on Wednesday.
