Ben Stokes was given the all-clear to captain England in their one-off Test against Zimbabwe later this month as he was named in a 13-man squad announced Friday.
The 33-year-old all-rounder has been recovering from hamstring surgery after breaking down in New Zealand in December, his second hamstring tear in five months.
Stokes has not featured for county side Durham so far this season but is set to skipper England in the opening Test of their home season, which is a four-day game rather than the standard five, at Trent Bridge from May 22 to 25.
Uncapped Essex seamer Sam Cook is also in the squad and could be in line for a Test debut in Nottingham, with pacemen Mark Wood, Brydon Carse, Chris Woakes and Olly Stone all injured.
Express quick Jofra Archer is not yet considered ready for red-ball international cricket.
Cook, 27, has taken 318 first-class wickets at an impressive average of under 20 but doubts have persisted over whether he is quick enough to be effective at Test level.
Cook is one of two uncapped players in the squad, together with Jordan Cox, his Essex teammate, who may end up as the reserve batsman.
Batter Jacob Bethell, who impressed on England’s tour of New Zealand, is currently playing in the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, effectively ruling him out of selection for the Zimbabwe match.
Nottinghamshire paceman Josh Tongue will hope to make a return to Test action on his home ground, having last featured for England during the 2023 Ashes.
He could form part of a pace attack also including Gus Atkinson and Cook, with doubts over Stokes’s fitness to bowl.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has kept his place despite mediocre displays so far this season in the County Championship while Ollie Pope appears poised to return the role of number three batsman.
It will be Zimbabwe’s first Test in England since 2003.
Zimbabwe have declined considerably since then but last week they won their first Test in four years, beating Bangladesh by three wickets in Sylhet.
The Trent Bridge match marks the start of a busy home summer for Stokes’s men, with England also facing India in a five-Test series before the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia.
England squad
Ben Stokes (capt), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wkt), Josh Tongue
AFP
