Surrey’s Dan Lawrence is set to open the batting in the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka, after England decided against calling up a specialist opener for the injured Zak Crawley.
Essex’s Jordan Cox has been summoned as Crawley’s replacement, but bats in the middle order for his county.
While Lawrence does likewise at the Oval, he has been the spare batter in England squads for much of the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum era and is at last set to win his first cap under the pair.
Seamer Olly Stone has also been recalled for the first time in three years to replace Dillon Pennington, who picked up a hamstring injury while playing in the Hundred and is likely to miss the rest of the home summer.
Pennington received his maiden Test call-up for the recent series against West Indies, but did not feature in the 3-0 success, from which the squad is otherwise unchanged.
Crawley fractured his right little finger while attempting to take a catch at slip during the Third Test against the West Indies and will miss the entire Sri Lanka series, though he is hoping to be fit for the autumn’s tour of Pakistan.
Ben Stokes opened the batting alongside Ben Duckett in England’s second innings in that game, but that was with just 82 required for victory, with the captain striking the fastest Test fifty by an Englishman.
Cox was effectively signed from Kent as a replacement for Lawrence when he swapped Essex for the Oval in the offseason.
The 23-year-old has been in superb form in this year’s County Championship, scoring 763 runs at an average of 69.
The three-match series against Sri Lanka starts on August 21 at Old Trafford.
England Men’s Test Squad:
Ben Stokes (Durham) Captain
Gus Atkinson (Surrey)
Shoaib Bashir (Somerset)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Jordan Cox (Essex)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Dan Lawrence (Surrey)
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
Matthew Potts (Durham)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Jamie Smith (Surrey)
Olly Stone (Nottinghamshire)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Mark Wood (Durham)
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