McCullum in Pope blessing; Anderson, Broad back
England will launch their latest redball reset by recalling Ollie Pope at No 3, with Matthew Potts set to make his test debut against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.
The first test squad of the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era — which is for the opening two games of the series — includes eight members of the side who were thrashed by 10 wickets in Grenada in March to seal a series loss to the West Indies.
A selection panel featuring McCullum, Stokes, managing director Rob Key, head scout James Taylor, performance director Mo Bobat and player identification lead David Court also recalled veterans James Anderson and Stuart Broad, with England missing five fast bowlers due to injury and omitting Ollie Robinson. Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson was overlooked in favour of Jack Leach.
The recall of Pope is the most surprising move. Pope has never batted in the top three in first-class cricket.
Pope, who was dropped for the tour of the West Indies after a torrid Ashes tour, has been in fine form for Surrey this campaign, scoring 417 runs at an average of 69.5.
“If we can unlock him, which I think they can, there’s a seriously good test cricketer there,” Key said. “I think he has technique and temperament, but it’s down to us really to get the best out of him. Give him the backing to go and do it, so we can finally see the potential that we think he has.”
Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, who has scored 758 runs at an average of 151.6 so far this season, has been picked as the spare batsman. Jonny Bairstow will move up to No 5, with England deciding against resting him following the Indian Premier League campaign. Joe Root shuffles down to four in his first test back in the ranks and Stokes moves to No 6. Robinson was declared unfit to bowl during England’s final Ashes test, in Hobart, with England bowling coach Jon Lewis publicly questioning his conditioning. He then missed all three of England’s tests in the West Indies after suffering a back spasm, before also missing the opening of the Championship season. Robinson has since been disrupted by illness and after bowling only 57 overs in county cricket this season is not yet considered test-match ready. England will once again depend on Anderson and Broad, with Durham fast bowler Potts, the 23-year-old who has taken 35 Championship wickets this season, in line for a debut.
“Ben Stokes has seen him close at hand, I’ve seen a lot of him on the stream, the scouts have seen a hell of a lot of him and they’ve seen his development,” Key said. “I’m pretty excited by what he offers. We see him as a point of difference.”
Key confirmed England have no qualms about selecting Anderson and Broad, England’s two highest test wicket-takers of all time, in tandem.
“We’re just going to pick the best team we possibly can to try to win the game,” said Key. “We’ll try and make the most of them while we’ve still got them.”