England will field three debutants. make five changes for their second Test against New Zealand at The Oval, with James Rew replacing Jamie Smith in a last-minute change to their side.
Smith's partner Kate gave birth to the couple's second child early on Tuesday morning. he will miss the match on paternity leave. Rew, the Somerset wicketkeeper-batter, will make his Test debut in Smith's place. He will bat at No. 6 and keep wicket, with fellow debutant Jordan Cox picked as a specialist batter at No. 7.
"Uncapped wicketkeeper-batter James Rew has been called into the England Men's XI for the second Rothesay Test against New Zealand in place of Jamie Smith," the ECB said in a statement on Tuesday evening. "Smith has been withdrawn from the Test match following the birth of his second child earlier today, enabling him to remain with his partner. family."
Rew, 22, was first named in an England Test squad last year. has been a consistent run-scorer in the County Championship in recent years. Since the start of the 2023 season, he has scored 11 Championship hundreds. is the third-highest run-scorer in Division One behind Dom Sibley and Joe Clarke.
Rew described his strength as "trying to make it really hard for [teams] to get me out" last year,. told ESPNcricinfo: "I'm not necessarily as destructive as a lot of modern-day players." But he has expanded his game over the past 12 months, breaking into Somerset's T20 side, and has earned his place after a strong start to the Championship season.
His younger brother Thomas is also widely expected to be a future England player, having captained them to the Under-19s World Cup final this year,. made his maiden first-class hundred against Nottinghamshire earlier this week.
The late change means that Rew will join Cox. fast bowler Sonny Baker in making his debut this week, with Jofra Archer and Matthew Fisher both coming into the side. Ben Stokes. Gus Atkinson are missing for disciplinary reasons, Ollie Robinson is injured, Smith is on paternity leave, and Shoaib Bashir was left out to help England balance their side.
It is the first time that England have fielded three debutants in the same men's Test XI since July 2017, when Dawid Malan, Toby Roland-Jones. Tom Westley won their first caps against South Africa, also at The Oval. It is also the first time since the 1993 Headingley Test versus Australia. England will go into a men's Test with as many as five players who have not won more than one previous cap.
Joe Root, who will captain the side in Stokes' absence, accounts for 164 of the 281 previous Test caps in the England XI. is not only the team's leading Test run-scorer, but its leading wicket-taker, too. Along with the three debutants, Emilio Gay and Matthew Fisher have a single previous cap each.
"It's a very exciting team," Root said on Tuesday, putting a positive spin on its inexperience. "There's a lot of youth, a lot of guys at the start of their journey,. whenever someone comes into Test cricket, that brings a lot of energy to the squad, so it's a nice position to be in: 1-0 up in the series, and a great opportunity ahead this week to hopefully go and win a series."
New Zealand are expected to make a single change to their side, with Henry Nicholls set to return at No. 3 after Kane Williamson's abrupt, mid-series retirement and Matt Henry likely to play after getting through training unscathed on Tuesday.
England XI vs New Zealand: 1 Ben Duckett. 2 Emilio Gay, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Harry Brook, 6 James Rew (wk), 7 Jordan Cox, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Matthew Fisher, 10 Josh Tongue, 11 Sonny Baker.
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