Up 2-1 in the IND vs ENG Test series, the England Cricket Team will be without Shoaib Bashir for the Manchester Test. While many expected Jack Leach to earn a recall, England have called up spin-all-rounder Liam Dawson. The left-arm spinner fell out with the Brendon McCullum-led England coaching staff ahead of the India tour last year. He refused an England central contract because he would not get a guaranteed spot in the Playing XI. However, England have released pacers Sam Cook and Jamie Overton for County duties.
“Liam Dawson deserves his call-up. He has been in outstanding form in the County Championship and consistently puts in strong performances for Hampshire,” Luke Wright, England Men’s National Selector, said.
England squad for IND vs ENG Test
- Ben Stokes (Durham) – Captain
- Jofra Archer (Sussex)
- Gus Atkinson (Surrey)
- Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire)
- Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
- Brydon Carse (Durham)
- Zak Crawley (Kent)
- Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
- Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
- Ollie Pope (Surrey)
- Joe Root (Yorkshire)
- Jamie Smith (Surrey)
- Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)
- Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Why Liam Dawson?
Despite being a regular in the Test squad, Liam Dawson could hardly crack the code and get into the Playing XI. But as the 35-year-old returned to England T20I team against West Indies, bagging five wickets in three matches at an economy rate of 8.08. In Three Tests for England, Dawson bagged 7 wickets and scored 84 runs.
England considered Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks as a possible replacement for injured Shoaib Bashir. But Dawson edged all. It’s his strong batting resume in County Championship that helped him get the recall. For Hampshire, Dawson has scored 10731 runs and scalped 371 wickets.
England struggled with the lower-order after Chris Woakes. As Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer and Shoaib Bashir are not confident batters, England have struggled. Dawson at No 8 will add a lot of batting flair to the England Test side in Manchester and the Oval. Furthermore, he would be a good match-up against India’s right-hand batters. KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Karun Nair and Nitish Reddy.
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