The England selectors have called up the ICC World Cup hero Jason Roy for the four-day test against Ireland at Lord’s next week.
England has won their first World Cup at Lord’s. The England Cricket Board has selected 13-member squad against Ireland and rewarded Jason Roy for his success in taking the country to win the trophy.
Jason Roy was the opening batsmen in the limited over cricket and will be the same in the test too. This makes Jason Roy the first one and Captain Joe Root in his favored position at four.
Jofra Archer was not named in the squad as he was suffering from a side strain. He will travel to Barbados for a short break before returning ahead of the Ashes 2019. Fast bowler Mark Wood was ruled out of the first Test as he was suffering from side strain from Sunday’s World Cup Finals.
Ed Smith England chairman speaking about Jason Roy: “We have total confidence he will be able to adapt to red-ball cricket.”
James Anderson may or may not be available against Ireland – “It’s not clear. He’s making good progress and, if he’s fit to play without risk against Ireland, that’s a possibility.” Smith added.
Ben Stokes who has made an outstanding 499 deliveries and bowled 50.5 overs in the World Cup, has been given a break before the Ashes.
England has quality fast bowlers to choose from, Two bowlers who are fit and firing are veteran Stuart Broad and left-armed Sam Curran who picked up six wickets for the England Lions against Australia A this week.
Chris Woakes may have to play at Lord’s after a break at the start of Ashes because of his injury.
Joe Denly who will likely bat at No.4 at Lord’s against Ireland may yet be again asked to move up a spot this summer. Ian Bell who hasn’t played a Test in almost four years and has missed the entire county season so far due to injury.
Roy has scored 443 runs at an average of 63.28 and strike-rate of 115.36 in the World Cup, is in line for his Test debut after he displaced Keaton Jennings from England’s Test squad.
The opening batsman for England has become a huge problem since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012 and from then they had gone for 13 different opening partners, none of them could withstand in.
During their previous Test series, England used three openers. In the first and third tests, they choose Rory Burns and Keaton Jennings as the openers and in the second match, Denly and Burns were given the duties for opening. When Jennings was brought back for the St Lucia Test, Denly dropped down to No 3, where he made 20 and 69.
Burns average is 25 after six Tests while Jennings average is 25.19 after 17 matches.
Jonny Bairstow is the sole wicketkeeper in the Test squad. Moeen Ali keeps his place as England’s top spinner, although his form this season has been ordinary and he was dropped during the World Cup.
This match will be Ireland’s third Test, after their debut at home versus Pakistan in 2018 and an away fixture with Afghanistan in Dehradun this year.
