England to give debuts to Jordan Cox and Sonny Baker against New Zealand

LONDON: England have handed debuts to Jordan Cox and Sonny Baker for Wednesday’s second Test against New Zealand, while James Rew could also make his first appearance in the Oval clash.

Despite winning the first Test at Lord’s, England selectors have been forced to make a host of changes just over a week later.

Captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson were left out of the England squad after breaching the team’s midnight curfew while celebrating the Lord’s victory.

Pace bowler Ollie Robinson, who took seven wickets at Lord’s, has pulled out due to a knee injury, while Rew is ready to step in if wicket-keeper Jamie Smith’s partner gives birth in the next couple of days.

Fresh from scoring 204 for Essex in his first County Championship outing for 11 months, Cox has been drafted in for Stokes.

Baker bolsters the pace attack alongside Jofra Archer, who missed the first Test due to his Indian Premier League commitments with Rajasthan Royals.

Fast bowler Matthew Fisher was also included for his second Test appearance – his first in more than four years – as spinner Shoaib Bashir dropped out.

Joe Root will captain England, more than four years after being replaced in the role by Stokes.

Root got the nod to take over from Stokes on a temporary basis instead of vice-captain Harry Brook.

“It became pretty obvious that after talking to both Joe and Harry, that Joe was the right person to do it,” England head coach Brendon McCullum said.

“He’s actually excited, because while he gave it everything he could last time around, he feels he’s in a much better place now to be able to do that job.

“There’s been a few changes. Whilst there’s been a bit of chaos and it’s been difficult to navigate through the week, I look at that line-up we have this week and it’s super exciting.

“I’m quietly confident we’re going to see some exciting cricket.”

McCullum said he was “worried” about Stokes. There were suggestions that the all-rounder would resign or even retire in the immediate aftermath.

But the 35-year-old’s future remains shrouded in mystery ahead of the start of the second Test.

McCullum said he experienced a range of emotions from anger to concern when he learnt of Stokes’ antics at a Chelsea nightspot. But he insisted he has a duty of care for Stokes’ well-being that over-rides disciplinary matters or the viability of his reign as skipper.

“When I first found out about it I was slightly bewildered, if I’m being honest. Then you go through a range of emotions. You go from being bewildered, on to angry, on to kind of gutted,” he said. “But very quickly my overall emotion turned to worry and concern for Ben in particular.”

COLLECTIVE EFFORT

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra admitted it will take a collective effort from his fellow batters to replace Kane Williamson after his shock decision to retire from international cricket.

Williamson brought the curtain down on his illustrious New Zealand career following the first Test defeat, leaving New Zealand with a huge hole in their line-up ahead of the second Test.

Ravindra conceded it will be impossible for one player to produce the wealth of runs amassed by Williamson.

Instead Ravindra hopes New Zealand’s overall batting depth can help fill the void.

“I don’t necessarily see it as pressure. Whenever a great moves on there is always a hole in the team,” Ravindra told reporters on Monday.

“But the strength and quality in our depth in our team is what we pride ourselves on. We have Henry Nicholls and obviously Will Young is here as batting back-up.

“We all share responsibility within our batting unit. It’s not on one guy, it’s pretty hard to fill in that gap and unfortunately I don’t think many people can. So it will be a collective effort.”

Ravindra said New Zealand’s squad had no complaints about Williamson’s decision to step away in the middle of the three-Test series.

“It’s always tough when probably our greatest player calls time. We were all so supportive of his decision,” he said. “Kane is such an amazing player but more than that he’s such an amazing bloke and has contributed so much to New Zealand.”

England squad: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root (captain), Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (or James Rew), Jordan Cox, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Matthew Fisher, Sonny Baker.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2026

if you want to get more information about this news then click on below link

More Detail