New era for England begins today
They face New Zealand for 1st Test
Thursday, 2 June 2022
LONDON, June 01 (AFP): England have recalled veteran pace bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad to their side for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's starting Thursday while giving a debut to Durham quick Matthew Potts.
Anderson, 39 and Broad, 35, England's two most successful bowlers of all time, with a combined 1,177 wickets between them, were both controversially left out of the squad for a 1-0 series loss in the West Indies earlier this year.
But they return for the first match under England's new leadership duo of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, the former New Zealand captain, in an XI named a day ahead of schedule on Wednesday. Potts gets his chance ahead of fellow squad member Craig Overton, after an injury crisis deprived England of several fast bowlers including Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Fisher and Olly Stone.
The 23-year-old Potts has been selected on the back of a fine start to the county season, having taken 35 wickets for Durham in his opening six County Championship matches.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is looking forward to seeing his side challenged over a longer campaign as they prepare for a three-Test series in England.
The economics of the game mean although New Zealand are the reigning World Test champions, they are rarely involved in anything more than a two-match campaign, even when they are at home as a result of having one of the smaller populations among leading cricket countries.