England call up uncapped Essex duo for Zimbabwe Test ...Middle East

England have called up Essex pair Sam Cook and Jordan Cox for the opening Test of the summer against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge later this month.

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.

He is joined by fellow uncapped Essex team-mate Jordan Cox, who saw off Durham’s top-order specialist Ben McKinney to be named as the spare batter in the squad.

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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Cox was set to make his Test debut in New Zealand in place of wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who was on paternity leave. However, he was ruled out of the series after sustaining an injury in the nets at the very start of the tour.

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.

It means Ollie Pope will return to batting at three at Trent Bridge having dropped down the order to keep wicket in New Zealand.

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.

It means Cook is set for his debut at Trent Bridge in an England attack that is likely to include the recalled Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson. Spinner Shoaib Bashir will also take his place in the XI despite a tough start to the season on loan at Glamorgan, where he has taken two for 304 across three matches.

Matt Potts of Durham is also in the squad but is not expected to play against Zimbabwe.

Tongue, who played two Tests during the 2023 summer, has missed much of the past two years with a pectoral injury but has made an impressive start to the season with Nottinghamshire, the fast bowler taking 15 wickets in three Championship games at 24.26.

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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.

Cook, Tongue and Atkinson have just 13 caps between them.

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.

This will also be just the second home Test in 18 years that England have not played one of Woakes, Anderson or Stuart Broad.

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.

Stokes has not played any cricket since tearing a hamstring in the final Test against New Zealand in Hamilton that finished on 17 December and it’s unlikely he will play for Durham either before the opening Test of the summer. Yet Stokes is also likely to play for the Lions so he can up his bowling loads ahead of the India series that starts at Headingley on 20 June.

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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