England’s cricket team has emerged from its with a new national selector 鈥� a foreigner, for the first time 鈥� and a new-look test squad.
Marcus North, a former Australia batter, was confirmed in the key position on Wednesday by England, which said he 鈥渨ill contribute to the selection of all England men鈥檚 squads鈥� from the senior teams through to youth programs.
North has a long history in English domestic cricket, having played for six county teams and, since 2018, been director of cricket at Durham 鈥� where he has worked alongside England test captain Ben Stokes.
England selectors have been criticized by some pundits for ignoring county form when picking who plays for the national team, so that might have been a factor behind North’s appointment in the wake of the embarrassing in the Ashes.
England already has a foreign-born head coach in Brendon McCullum.
North replaces Luke Wright after his three years in the role.
Post-Ashes squad rebuild for NZ series
Changes were inevitable in England’s test team after the McCullum-Stokes era hit a new low in the most recent Ashes.
It means there is a fresh look to the squad ahead of the three-test home series against New Zealand, with opener Zak Crawley and No. 3 Ollie Pope dropped for first test starting June 4 and three uncapped players selected.
Two of them are opener Emilio Gay, who has been playing limited-overs internationals for Italy 鈥� where his mother was born 鈥� over the past two years, and wicketkeeper-batter James Rew.
The 22-year-old Rew has been touted as a future England player for several seasons and has 12 first class hundreds, including a best of 221. He adds a wicketkeeper option if England uses big-hitting Jamie Smith as a batter only.
With Chris Woakes joining James Anderson and Stuart Broad in retiring, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse injured, and Jofra Archer unavailable because of T20 commitments, England’s fast-bowling stocks are currently low.
Matthew Fisher, whose sole test appearance came in 2022, was called up along with 23-year-old Sonny Baker, the third uncapped player in the squad. Gus Atkinson, Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue are the more senior pace options.
Back to the future?
While Rew and Gay are new faces a couple of familiar ones have returned.
Robinson last appeared for the test side away to India in February, 2024.
The 32-year-old gets a chance to relaunch a which began in 2021 and has seen him take 76 wickets at a low average of 22.92. Robinson has a test 50 and recently scored a century for county side Sussex despite batting at No. 10.
Rehan Ahmed is England’s other spin option alongside Shoaib Bashir.
The 21-year-old Ahmed returns after last playing for the test side against Pakistan in October, 2024. Ahmed, who was briefly used as a makeshift opener in England鈥檚 T20 side, has six first class hundreds and adds depth to the batting line up.
Bashir was unused in the Ashes despite being England鈥檚 No. 1 spinner, with 68 test wickets heading into that series. Batter and part-time spinner Will Jacks was not included in the squad.
The squad selection is just for the first test at Lord’s.
The second test begins June 17 at The Oval and the third starts June 25 in Nottingham. England then faces Pakistan in a three-test series over the summer.
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Squad:
Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue.
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