England has summoned Essex batter Jordan Cox and Nottinghamshire bowler Olly Stone for the upcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka, commencing at Old Trafford on 21 August.
The inclusion of these two players comes in place of the injured Zak Crawley and Dillon Pennington. However, the most likely beneficiary of these changes appears to be Dan Lawrence, who, having been a regular yet unused member of recent squads, is poised to make his first appearance in over two years as a substitute opener.
Crawley sustained a finger fracture during the final match of the recent 3-0 series victory over the West Indies and is hopeful of recovering in time for the October tour of Pakistan. Pennington was part of the squad for all three matches in that series without making an international debut and suffered a hamstring injury on Friday while making his debut appearance for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred. It is deemed unlikely that he will play again this summer, leading the Superchargers to replace him with Derbyshire’s Pat Brown.
The 23-year-old Cox made the move from Kent to Essex at the start of the year, partly to advance his international prospects. He toured Pakistan with England’s white-ball squad in 2022 but is yet to debut for his country. His impressive performances in the County Championship this season—averaging 69.36 with three centuries—have persuaded England head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes to name him as a backup batter.
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England Test squad and fixtures
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Ben Stokes (Durham, capt), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Jordan Cox (Essex), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey, wkt), Olly Stone (Nottinghamshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)
England v Sri Lanka series fixtures
1st Test 21-25 August, Old Trafford, Manchester
2nd Test 29 August-2 September, Lord’s
3rd Test 6-10 September, The Oval
“Test cricket is the pinnacle of cricket,” Cox stated. “With how Baz [McCullum] and Stokesy seem to be doing this Bazball style of cricket, who wouldn’t want to play? It appears tremendously enjoyable.”
Stone has earned three Test caps between 2019 and 2021 but has faced a series of unfortunate injuries, including four stress fractures in his back and numerous muscle-related issues. He and Matthew Potts are set to provide seam bowling support for Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, and Gus Atkinson, who formed the pace attack during the last two Tests against the West Indies.
