BROOK AND POTTS HANDED ENGLAND CALLS FOR LORD’S TEST

CRICKET: Uncapped duo Harry Brook and Matthew Potts have been called up for the first Test of England’s new era, but Matt Parkinson must again wait for his chance. The pair of 23-year-olds have been named in a 13-man squad for next month’s Lord’s clash against New Zealand after director of men’s cricket Rob Key convened a selection panel alongside recently appointed captain Ben Stokes and incoming head coach Brendon Mccullum. Despite the overhaul in leadership it is a largely familiar group, featuring 10 players who travelled to the West Indies in March plus the returning duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who boast a combined 321 caps.

Lancashire leg-spinner Parkinson has been the leading slow bowler in the country this season, taking 23 Division One wickets in four games on batting-friendly pitches, but his hopes of graduating from the fringes to the first XI have been dashed with Jack Leach favoured. But the efforts of two rising stars of the domestic scene have been recognised. Yorkshire batter Brook, who made his Twenty20 debut in January, has been rewarded for a prolific start to the County Championship season during which he has raced to the top of the Division One run-scoring charts with three centuries and an average of 151.60.

Potts plies his trade with Durham in the second tier, but with a raft of injuries in the fast-bowling ranks his 35 wickets at 18.57 represented an irresistible case. England are missing the likes of Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher, but Key believes the Sunderland seamer can make the most of the opening.

“I like the look of Matt Potts. I’m pretty excited by what he offers,” he said.

“Out of the injury problem that we’ve got at the moment, some good will come out of that, and it may be him. We see him as a point of difference.”

While the portents are good for Potts to debut at Lord’s on June 2, Brook may find himself edged out of the XI. With Ollie Pope set for a risky promotion to number three, Joe Root fixed at number four and Stokes opting for a spot at six, there is only one middle-order berth up for grabs.

Provided he returns from the Indian Premier League ready for the rigours of Test cricket, that will go to Jonny Bairstow.