WELLINGTON: England have recalled Jonny Bairs­tow for their two Tests against New Zealand later this month as cover for the injured Joe Denly, a team official said on Friday.

Bairstow, a 69-Test wicket-keeper/batsman who was initially omitted from the squad, is already in New Zealand with the England squad playing in the five-match Twenty20 series ahead of the Tests. An England spokesman said the 30-year-old will now stay on in New Zealand after the final Twenty20 International in Auckland on Sunday.

Denly has not played since he damaged his right ankle ligaments in training two weeks ago, although he did practise in the nets on Thursday.

England’s red-ball specialists arrived in Auckland this week and will join the rest of the squad on Monday.

Revised squad: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2019