England released a 12-man lineup for their opening Test versus the West Indies, which is slated to begin on Tuesday at Antigua’s Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Since this will be England’s 1st Test after their dismal 0-4 Ashes run, Joe Root’s lads will be eager to establish themselves. Importantly, the national committee has made significant decisions, with experienced pace bowlers James Anderson & Stuart Broad being dropped for this series. Here is why Ollie Robinson was Ruled Out in the England tour of West Indies 2022.
Rory Burns & Haseeb Hameed, both underperforming starters, were also axed. Alex Lees, who has been included in the team for the 1st Test, will begin alongside Zak Crawley. Durham, who is a consistent run-scorer, had a good warm-up game versus the WI, scoring 65, 10 runs in 2 innings. Crawley would indeed be eager to make an impression after scoring 62 and 34 in the matchup.
Our 12-strong squad for the first Test 🏏
🏝 #WIvENG 🏴
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 6, 2022
Captain Joe Root, will play at no.3 and get his best to make his blade talk. Dan Lawrence has edged Ollie Pope to the 4th spot with scores of 83, 48 in the practice match. Ben Stokes, Bairstow, & Foakes will be followed by him. Interestingly, Bairstow will be a pure batsman, whereas Ben Foakes will take over the glove work.
Moreover, England has been suffered a severe setback with the withdrawal of Ollie Robinson from the 1st Test. Robinson hasn’t emerged from a sore back he suffered in the warm-up match, as the England Cricket Board (ECB) source said. Robinson, In the meantime, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, and Mark Wood are all set to begin. With exception of their specialized spin bowler in the team, left-arm spinner Jack Leach will almost certainly edge speedster Saqib Mahmood.
“Ollie is a talented bowler. Naturally, he’ll be a big miss,” said all-rounder Chris Woakes. “He’s shown in his short Test career so far that he’s certainly got the skills and the ability to do good things in the format. At the same time, it gives people opportunities”.
“We’re trying to win games of cricket here, but it does give that chance to someone to potentially make their Test debut who has been waiting in the wings for quite a while to show what they can do at this level”, concluded Chris Woakes.
England’s Test squad against West Indies:
Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes (wk), Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Alex Lees, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood.
