As revealed by The i Paper two weeks ago, Cook, the 27-year-old seamer who has taken 318 first-class wickets at 19.77, finally gets his chance at international level after being named in a 13-man squad for the four-day Test that starts in Nottingham on 22 May.
That’s because England have kept faith with Zak Crawley despite the opener’s underwhelming start to the season with Kent and a torrid tour of New Zealand late last year when he averaged just 8.66.
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Jacob Bethell, who shined in New Zealand after being handed the No 3 role in his debut series, misses out as the 21-year-old remains in the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Fast bowler Jofra Archer is also still at the IPL and even though his Rajasthan Royals team face an early exit from the tournament, he is not yet seen as ready to return to red-ball cricket having not played a Test for England for four years. He is expected to ramp up his Test readiness by playing for the England Lions in early June.
England have kept the faith with Zak Crawley (Photo: Getty)Matt Potts of Durham is also in the squad but is not expected to play against Zimbabwe.
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With Mark Wood out until mid-summer following knee surgery, Chris Woakes still nursing an ankle injury and Brydon Carse also not yet ready to return from a toe issue sustained over the winter, England will have an inexperienced seam attack against Zimbabwe.
Not since James Anderson’s debut series against Zimbabwe in 2003 have England gone into a Test with such an untested attack, with Steve Harmison, Anderson and Richard Johnson sharing a combined seven caps between them back then.
At the start of a massive year for England that includes a five-Test series against India at home this summer and the Ashes in Australia next winter, captain Ben Stokes is not expected to bowl against Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe drew their most recent Test series 1-1 in Bangladesh, a result that suggests they will not be as much of a pushover as many people expect. Yet they remain bottom of the world Test rankings below Ireland and Afghanistan.
England squad to face Zimbabwe: BA Stokes (captain), AAP Atkinson, S Bashir, HC Brook, SJ Cook, JM Cox, Z Crawley, BM Duckett, OJD Pope, MJ Potts, JE Root, JL Smith, JC Tongue.
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