England suffered a crushing 336-run defeat to India in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy on July 6 at Edgbaston. In response, they have made a swift change to their squad, drafting in fast bowler Gus Atkinson ahead of the third Test at Lord’s.
Atkinson, who had been sidelined with a hamstring injury sustained during the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May, has fully recovered. He is expected to be in contention for selection in the third match of the ICC World Test Championship, set to begin on Thursday at Lord’s.
The hosts announced a 16-member squad for the upcoming Test just hours after their defeat in Birmingham. England captain Ben Stokes hinted at possible changes, underscoring the need to bounce back strongly in the ongoing series.
“It’s no secret that we have spent some time in the field and bowled some overs in the first two games, and we’ll have to see how everyone pulls up over the next two days. With it being a quick turnaround, there probably will be a decision we have to make given how everyone does pull up after this game. Everyone’s in consideration for the game at Lord’s,” Stokes said to ICC.
England may also recall fellow pacer Jofra Archer for the crucial encounter, while young batter Jacob Bethell is being considered as an option to strengthen the top six. With the five-match series now level at 1-1, Stokes has urged his teammates to quickly move past the disappointment in Birmingham and refocus on the remainder of the series.
“We’ve obviously had some unbelievable wins and some bad defeats. I feel I’m quite good – and the team is – at staying level throughout those ups and downs. That is so important in a series where we knew coming in that it wasn’t going to be easy… We have to wipe this one under the carpet as quickly as we can, because Lord’s day one will be coming around pretty quickly. We will have one or two days to get the bodies right and recover, and all of a sudden, we will be out there flipping the coin,” Stokes concluded.
England squad for third Test:
Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, 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.
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