ENG vs SL 2024: England announce XI for third Test; Josh Hull to debut

England Men announced their playing combination for the third Test versus Sri Lanka in the ongoing series, which is set to be played at the Kia Oval, London. With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, England have opted to grant a chance to pacer Josh Hull for the game, starting Friday, September 06. Hull, notably, replaces Matthew Potts, making it the only change to the Playing XI.

At a stature of 6'7", Hull made his way into Leicestershire's echelons as an 18-year-old in 2022. This was after years of toiling at the club's Academy system. Hull has a total experience of 40 games which is split up into 10 first-class, 9 List A, and 21 T20s. Hull has registered 16, 17, and 24 wickets, respectively.

Hull has represented Leicestershire in the Vitality Blast post which he played for the Manchester Originals for a couple of games in The Hundred 2024. Although he was not included in the 15-member squads for the first two games, the management roped him in the setup for the final game of the series, which could be considered a dead rubber at best.

Hull, however, was in the England Lions squad for the tour match against the islanders in which he impressed with first innings wickets of Angelo Mathews, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, and Dinesh Chandimal. He ended the game with impressive match figures of 20.1-1-74-5.

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Interestingly, Hull had also featured for Young Lions Invitational XI against Sri Lanka U19s in August 2022.

The left-arm angle along with the high-arm release will be something to be looking forward to as spectators will be keen on seeing how the youngster will fare during the multi-day game.