- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood returned to the England Test team after a while as the Three Lions on Tuesday (16) announced a 15-member squad for the only Test against Ireland starting at Lord’s on June 1.
Speedster Jofra Archer was the only notable absentee as he suffered an injury while playing in a match for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2023. He will be with England and Sussex medical teams that will work on his injury management and that means the 28-year-old Barbados-born cricketer would not be available for the Ashes starting on June 16.
England will, however, be pleased with the return of Bairstow into the squad as a freak accident had kept him out of the game for more than seven months. He is also set to be the home team’s first-choice wicket-keeper in the opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
All-rounder Chris Woakes also made his way back to the Test squad after more than a year and if picked in the playing XI, it will be his first appearance in Tests on home soil since August 2020. Mark Wood is also back in the squad after taking a break from the tour of New Zealand in February.
Batter Ollie Pope, who was the vice captain of the England squad in the tour of New Zealand, will continue to be deputy of captain Ben Stokes.
England and Wales Cricket Board managing director for England’s Men Cricket Rob Key said it was a tough decision to leave out Ben Foakes who has been in excellent form last year but added that Bairstow is one of the best players in the world and his show last summer summarised it all.
He also hoped to see Archer returning to his best form and winning games for England in all formats.
England Test squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Ollie Pope (vice captain), Jonathan Bairstow (wicket-keeper), James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
