My predicted England XI to face Pakistan as first Test squad of new era is named

If England’s squad for the first two Tests against Pakistan is anything to go by then the new era under Joe Root’s captaincy will place a greater emphasis on county cricket and aim to fill the void left by Ben Stokes’ retirement by packing out the bowling. The main headline from the 16-man party selected for the opening two matches at Headingley, starting on 19 August, and Lord’s later this month is the absence of Jacob Bethell. The 22-year-old has failed to recover from a knee injury sustained during the one day-series against India last month and will be replaced at No 3 in England’s batting line-up by Jordan Cox. It’s a bold call to pick a player with just one Test appearance at such a pivotal position. But England clearly rate the Essex batter and he has a huge opportunity against Pakistan given Bethell is out for the entire series. Jordan Cox looks set to fill the No 3 spot (Photo: Getty) Equally bold is going back to Dan Lawrence at No 6, the Surrey batter’s back two years after his last Test appearance at home to Sri Lanka at The Oval. Lawrence is the second-leading runscorer in this year’s County Championship, with 788 at an average of 65. His average of 26 across his first 14 Tests was not helped by being asked to bat in the top order for many of those games, including opening in all three Tests against Sri Lanka in his last series. Lawrence’s part-time spin is a sign that despite Shoaib Bashir being in the squad, England are likely to go with an all-seam attack unless they are presented with a pitch that looks like it is going to turn square. Balancing the side effectively without the all-round talents of Stokes was always going to be a tricky task. This way, England hope they have not weakened the batting and have given themselves enough depth in the bowling department to cover for the loss of Stokes, who announced his shock international retirement during the final Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in June. The significant nod to county cricket is underlined by the recalls of Ollie Pope – ostensibly as cover for wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and Cox at No 3 – for the first time since last winter’s Ashes and Essex seamer Sam Cook. Essex seamer Sam Cook has been one of county cricket’s most consistent performers (Photo: Getty) The squad was picked by Root, director of cricket Rob Key and national selector Marcus North. New Test coach Stephen Fleming, who will not start his job until the winter tour of South Africa, also had an input from afar. It appears a significant break from the Bazball era, when players were often picked on hunches by former Test coach Brendon McCullum and captain Stokes. Two notable absentees in spinning all-rounders Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks, both of whom would have hoped to have batted at No 6 instead of Lawrence, illustrate this shift. Brydon Carse, back from a hand injury that forced him to miss the first half of the summer, returns and will be competing for one of the four seam-bowling spots. However, it seems likely that a fully-fit Ollie Robinson, man-of-the-match in England’s win against New Zealand at Lord’s in June, will take his place in the attack alongside Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue. My prediced England XI for Headingley Ben Duckett Emilio Gay Jordan Cox Joe Root (captain) Harry Brook Dan Lawrence Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper) Gus Atkinson Ollie Robinson Jofra Archer Josh Tongue North said of the squad: “We have selected a squad for the first two Tests that balances rising talent with the experience needed against a quality Pakistan team. “Dan Lawrence returns following an exceptional season so far with Surrey and we believe he has the right level of experience, maturity and skill to complement our middle order. “Jordan Cox is well regarded as one of the most exciting talents in English cricket and will have the opportunity to bat at three in place of Jacob Bethell, who sadly misses this series through injury.”