LONDON: England inclu­ded uncapped spin bowling all-rounder Jacob Bethell in a 16-man squad announced on Tuesday for their upcoming Test tour of New Zealand, with wicket-keeper/batsman Jamie Smith omitted due to paternity leave.

Barbados-born Bethell, who made his T20 and ODI debuts against Australia last month, has only featured in 20 first-class mat­ches and has a modest batting average of 25.44, without a century in any form of professional cricket.

Bethell is the only cha­nge to a Test squad recently beaten 2-1 in a three-match series away to Pakistan.

He is currently with the England white-ball squad in the Caribbean and, along with Rehan Ahmed and Jordan Cox, will join the Test team following their commitments against the West Indies.

Essex wicket-keeper Cox is now in line to make his Test debut in the absence of Smith, who will miss the three-match series which starts in Christ­church on Nov 28 to attend the birth of his first child.

England squad Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox (wicket-keeper), Zak Crawley, Ben Duc­kett, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2024