England take on New Zealand in three tests, starting at Lord’s on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event; Ollie Pope to bat at No. 3; Durham closer Matthew Potts is hoping to make his debut but Yorkshire batsman Harry Brook may have to wait for his test bow despite the county’s excellent form.
Durham’s Matthew Potts has received a first call up to the England Test squad, but will he be in the XI at Lord’s?
England’s XI are coming together for the first Test of the summer against New Zealand with many places already looking secure, especially at the batting front.
Zak Crawley and Alex Lees have remained starters, Ollie Pope returns to the side and receives a promotion to No. 3, while Joe Root is back at his preferred spot, No. 4.
Jonny Bairstow, meanwhile, sits at No.5 after new captain and influential all-rounder Ben Stokes’ decision to drop himself to No.6. Goalkeeper Ben Foakes should round out the top seven.
Things are a little less certain on the bowling front, although James Anderson and Stuart Broad will, in all likelihood, start to be called up to the team after sitting out defeat in the West Indies, the final series before Stokes became captain and Trainer to Brendon McCullum.
Those closely affiliated with Kent Cricket have always believed they possessed a future England batsman in Crawley, and Rob Key still thinks they do. But the future must be now.
While the talent is undisputed, questions about Crawley continue to surround his consistency on the test stage and whether his style can fit in as a long-term solution to England’s top-tier problems.
“Crawley has been selected for his potential,” former England captain Nasser Hussain said. “It’s been a bit of party or hunger for him.
“He scored 100 in the first Test in the Caribbean and four single-figure scores. He scored 70-odd in Sydney [in The Ashes] and not much else. got 250 [versus Pakistan in 2020] and not much else.
“The reason for this is that he has a little technical issue with his bat crossing the line of the ball and as a starter he plays a booming breakthrough early on. He has been found wanting with the technical flaw that he has.”
“I hope he has taken a look at his game. With the Dukes ball in England against the New Zealand attack, as much as you want to play positive, attacking cricket, you also have to play the situation as a starter.
“You want your opening to be a little more consistent, so I see why they’ve stuck with Crawley, but you can only live off potential for so long.”
“With all the changes of captains, coaches and directors of cricket, the biggest change I want is for Joe Root to go 120-2, not 20-2.”
There had been talk of Crawley possibly moving to No. 3 in the order, to make way for another starter, but instead, Pope gets a chance to make the spot his own, even though he’s never hit there before.
England men’s cricket managing director Rob Key said of Pope’s rise: “I think he has the technique and the temperament.
“It’s up to us to get the best out of him, give him the backing to go and do it so that we can finally see the potential that we all believe he has.”
“If you ask who is the best No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, I would probably put Root as all of those. Then after that, we feel like The Pope is the man.
“With a lot of those guys now, the bet is that with the talent that they have, with this environment, McCullum and Stokes, we bring out the best in one of our most talented cricketers. Pope is one of them.
“If we can unlock him, which I think we can, there’s a really good test cricketer in there, whether it’s 3, 4 or 5, he could be a very, very good test match batsman.”
In contrast to his high scoring in county cricket, Pope averaged just 28.66 in 23 Test matches for England, managed a peak score of 35 at The Ashes over the winter, and reached 50 just once in his last 12 Test outings.
Hussein said: “[Former England coach] Duncan Fletcher used to tell me at selection meetings, ‘It’s like an investment, when you pick someone, it’s an investment in the future.’
“Anyone who has seen Pope bat for Surrey in the last two or three years will know what a talent he is. The problem is that he hasn’t been able to transfer that onto the international stage lately, he looks a bit frantic, a bit chaotic in the crease.” .
It certainly appears to be that way with the fit Yorkshire player (he’s averaging 140 in the Championship so far this season) set to be the batsman to miss with Key confirming Bairstow “will get to No. 5”.
Hussain said: “I know he’s getting runs and he does it in a very attacking way. I sat and watched a broadcast of Yorkshire playing Essex recently and he just knocked over his bowlers. He’s a very attacking player.