Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson earn debuts as England announce playing XI for first Test against West Indies

England will take on West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s on July 10. Ahead of the game, the Three Lions announced their playing XI as two players will make their Test debut for England against the Caribbean side. Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson will debut for their team and Shoaib Bashir will make his home debut after being featured on England’s tour of India. The player of the series in the last Ashes, Chris Woakes has also returned to the XI after the Ashes. 

Talking about Atkinson, he has represented England in white-ball cricket and has featured in 12 games. He toured India with England for the five-match Test series but could not make his debut with no extra pacer’s option on turning Indian tracks. On the other hand, England have decided to look past Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes as Smith will don the gloves for the team in the upcoming Test.

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Speaking of the statistics, Atkinson was drafted into the team for the ODI World Cup 2023 in India on the back of an exceptional summer. He was later discarded for the T20 World Cup 2024 and the pacer can clock a traditional 80 to 90 mph when he gets going. This season, he has 14 County Championship wickets to his name at an average of 29.78 for Surrey. 

Smith comes on the back of a successful county stint 

Smith has knocked on the ECB’s door with some fantastic performances in the domestic circuit. He was called up as he notched his second first-class century and is the top scorer for Surrey with 677 runs at an average of 56.41 and a strike rate of 76.67. He has represented England in white-ball cricket, playing two games against Ireland and has to deal with the number seven position with Harry Brook cementing the number five slot. 

England Playing XI:

Zak Crawley, ⁠Ben Duckett, ⁠Ollie Pope, ⁠Joe Root, Harry Brook, ⁠Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, ⁠Gus Atkinson, ⁠Shoaib Bashir, ⁠James Anderson