England has included the talented batting allrounder Jacob Bethell from Warwickshire in their Test squad for the tour of New Zealand. He has replaced Jamie Smith, who will be on paternity leave throughout the tour.

Promising Performances

Bethell recently celebrated his 21st birthday and took everyone’s eyeball by storm in his white-ball debut against Australia in September, striking a match-winning 44 runs off 24 balls in the second T20I in Cardiff.

Although promising, until now, he has only featured in 20 County Championship matches and has yet to register a first-class century.

Squad Update

Bethell is the lone replacement for the 16-player squad that lost a three-match series 2-1 to Pakistan last week. Jordan Cox, batting reserve not used, is scheduled to make his Test appearance as wicketkeeper during Smith’s absence when the young cricketer will join the white-ball tour of the Caribbean as recently announced in the white-ball squad.

England Test Squad: Ben Stokes (C), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes