Sam Cook, the Essex seamer, will make his Test debut against Zimbabwe on Thursday, after his place in the XI was confirmed by England's head coach, Brendon McCullum, two days out from the contest at Trent Bridge.
Cook, 27, will take his place in a seam attack that also features a return to action for Josh Tongue, the Nottinghamshire quick who impressed in two Tests at Lord's in 2023 but has been sidelined with injury for much of the past two years.
Gus Atkinson, England's break-out star from the 2024 home summer will complete a trio of frontline seamers, with Shoaib Bashir retained as the spinner. Ben Stokes, England's Test captain, is also expected to play a part with the ball after undergoing hamstring surgery in January, in what will be his first competitive match since the Test tour of New Zealand in December.
Matthew Potts, who has also been named in England's white-ball squads to face West Indies later this month, misses out among the seamers, as does the spare batter, Somerset's James Rew, who was in turn a late replacement in the squad after Jordan Cox suffered a side strain while making a century for Essex earlier this month.
More to follow ...
England XI: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 James Smith (wk), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Josh Tongue, 10, Sam Cook, 11 Shoaib Bashir