Durham paceman Matthew Potts handed England debut in first Test against NZ
Durham seamer Matthew Potts will make his England debut in the first LV= Insurance Test against New Zealand on Thursday.
The 23-year-old has been picked ahead of Somerset’s Craig Overton and will join an attack led by the two most prolific wicket-takers in English history, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, at Lord’s.
Anderson, 39, and Broad, 35, were dropped for the recent tour of the West Indies but return at the first time of asking under new captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
England had already removed some of the uncertainty around their XI by teeing up Jonny Bairstow’s selection at number five, meaning in-form Yorkshire batter Harry Brook must wait for his chance.
Brook has scored 840 runs at an average of 140 for the White Rose this season, but has not been able find a place in a familiar-looking top six. Domestic form has proved crucial to Potts’ elevation, though, with the Sunderland-born quick rewarded for taking 35 wickets in his first six appearances this year.
England are without a host of pace bowlers due to injury, with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher among those sidelined.
Stokes, who is due to face the media on Wednesday morning, takes over a side that sits bottom of the World Test Championship table following a run of one win in their last 17 games.