Cricket
England keep faith with Ollie Pope at No 3 for first India Test as Jacob Bethell made to wait for red-ball recall: seamers Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse also return to XI after missing win over Zimbabwe through injury; watch first Test live on Sky Sports Cricket from Friday (11am start)
Wednesday 18 June 2025 14:54, UK
England have kept faith with Ollie Pope, left out Jacob Bethell and recalled seam bowlers Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse for the first Test against India at Headingley.
Pope has been retained at No 3 for the Leeds Test, live on Sky Sports from Friday (11am first ball), after scoring 171 in the innings thrashing of Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge in May.
Bethell missed that match while on IPL duty for Royal Challengers Bengaluru but an impressive start to his England career had led to calls for him to be immediately restored.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (vice-captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
Watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from Friday June 20 (11am first ball)
The 21-year-old looked assured while scoring three fifties from the No 3 position in New Zealand over the winter and also shone in the recent white-ball games versus West Indies, most notably with a 53-ball 82 in the first one-day international.
Bethell’s left-arm spin may also have been a useful option with the scorching temperatures likely to produce a dry pitch but vice-captain Pope has been given the nod, versus a side he averages just 24.60 against, down from his overall mark of 35.49.
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Opener Zak Crawley, another player Bethell could potentially have dislodged, will partner Ben Duckett at the top of the order with the only changes coming in the pace attack.
Fit-again Woakes and Carse, who missed the Zimbabwe Test with ankle and toe issues respectively, replace Sam Cook and the injured Gus Atkinson with Carse to play his first home Test after 27 wickets across five matches in Pakistan and New Zealand this winter.
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Atkinson is still recovering from a hamstring problem he sustained against Zimbabwe while Cook is left out after an indifferent Test debut in which he took just the one wicket.
Woakes and Carse – who said on Wednesday that there have been discussions about him taking the new ball in Atkinson’s absence – will join Josh Tongue and captain Ben Stokes in the fast-bowling group, with Shoaib Bashir as the spinner.
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Pace-bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton is the other member of the initial 14-player squad, along with Bethell and Cook, to miss out on selection for the series opener.
The Headingley Test begins a huge period for England with the five-match series at home to Shubman Gill’s men followed by an Ashes tour to Australia, starting at Perth’s Optus Stadium on November 21.
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The second India Test is at Edgbaston from July 2 ahead of further matches at Lord’s (from July 10), Emirates Old Trafford (from July 23) and The Kia Oval (from July 31), with every game live on Sky Sports.
Carse told reporters on Wednesday: “To play a home Test against India is going to be pretty exciting. It is another opportunity to show the different skills I can bring to the team.
“I’d like to think I can be quite adaptable. If that opportunity comes [to take the new ball], I will relish it, relish putting my hand up.
“There is no hiding from the fact that over a number of years England have had Stuart Broad and James Anderson as the main two bowlers so it is slightly more inexperienced.
“But a lot of the guys that have come in have started well and that will give them a level of confidence and having someone like Woakes, who has played lots of Test cricket in different conditions, brings a level of calmness.”
India vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who is set to bat at No 5, one spot behind new skipper Gill, hopes the team can make the country happy again after last week’s Air India plane crash in which more than 270 people were killed.
Pant said: “What happened with the aircraft, all of India was sad so from our side it is how we can make India happy again. I can promise we are going to put our best foot forward for the country.”
India are without the now-retired batters Virat Kohli and former captain Rohit Sharma, while off-spinner Ravichandran Aswin quit international cricket in December.
Pant added: “As a team we are looking at it as an opportunity to express our talent. Not focusing on what has happened in the past or what is going to happen in the future.
“The idea is very simple. We are going to look to play positive, brave cricket but at the same time respect the conditions.
“If there is a ball to hit, hit it and if the conditions require you to leave the ball and play yourself in, why not do it? You have to keep finding ways, keep believing you are going to make your team win.
“It feels good that Anderson and Broad are not there because they have been there for England for so many years but they have enough ammunition so we don’t want to take anyone lightly.”
All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports
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