England name squad for the 1st Test against South Africa

England selectors named the squad for the first Test of the four-match series against South Africa. Newly appointed skipper Joe Root will be leading England for the first time in the longest format of the game. Two of their most prominent pacers Chris Woakes and Jake Ball miss out from the game due to their respective injuries while the selection panel decided to include Toby Roland-Jones who had an impressive ODI debut in the team.

Jones picked 22 wickets for Middlesex in the County Championship and that made his case stronger. Those making their comeback in the team are top order batsman Gary Balance, left-arm spinner Liam Dawson and pacer Mark Wood.

Chairman of Selectors James Whitaker thinks under skipper Root there are exciting times ahead for the English team in the whites. He said: “There is great excitement around the first Test of the summer and with the start of a new era under the captaincy of Joe Root this is an exciting time for English cricket.

Talking about the only new face in the squad James stated that he has been on their radar for quite some time now and he had earned this chance having bowled well for his county side in the last couple of seasons.

“Toby Roland-Jones is a player we have been monitoring for quite some time and deserves his chance after a strong couple of seasons with Middlesex in red ball cricket. He came close last year when he was named in the Test squad against Pakistan in July. Toby has been in good form this campaign and his ability to seam the ball along with the fact that he can score useful runs down the order gives us a number of options,” Whitaker was quoted as saying by ECB.co.uk.

Ballance has been leading Yorkshire well but the last time he represented the three lions was back in October 2016.

“Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance could play his first Test since October. He has been in fantastic touch with the bat in the Championship averaging over 100. He deserves to be included and we feel that he will add maturity and experience to our middle-order,” the chief selector explained.

“On behalf of the selectors, I would like to wish Joe Root, Trevor Bayliss and all the squad the very best for what will be a competitive series against South Africa,” he concluded.

England squad for the 1st Test:

Joe Root (C), Alastair Cook, Ketan Jennings, Garry Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson.

Fixtures

1st Test – July 6-10, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London

2nd Test – July 14-18, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

3rd Test – July 27-31, Kia Oval, London

4th Test – August 4-8, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester