Jamie Overton recalled, Jofra Archer left out of Headingley Test, Bairstow axed

All-rounder Jamie Overton earned a surprise recall to the England Test squad as a 14-member squad was announced on Thursday for the opening Test at Headingley. Team India, led by new captain Shubman Gill, will face England in a five-match Test series starting June 20.

Alongside Overton, Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse, who missed the Zimbabwe series due to niggles, have also been recalled. Rising star Jacob Bethell has also made the cut.

England are set to field a depleted pace attack in the upcoming Test, with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Gus Atkinson all ruled out due to injuries. Although Test captain Ben Stokes has returned to bowling, the weakened seam attack may struggle against an inexperienced yet flamboyant Indian batting line-up.

The England squad has undergone significant changes since their 4-1 series defeat in India last year. Following that loss, legendary pacer James Anderson announced his retirement from international cricket. Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes, and Ollie Robinson have also been dropped from the current squad.

India, meanwhile, will be without several key players, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin. The upcoming series will be Gill`s first assignment as full-time Test captain.

India, who last won a Test series in England in 2007, have sent a portion of their squad to participate in India A`s matches against the England Lions, while the remaining players will soon arrive in the UK.

Of the three India A matches against the England Lions, the first unofficial Test ended in a draw, while the second will be played on June 6 at the County Ground in Northampton.

England squad: Ben Stokes (C), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

India’s squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.

(With ANI Inputs)

This article first appeared on Mid Day