Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley have been dropped from the side as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced a 15-member squad for the third Test match against India, at Headingley from 25 August. Dawid Malan, who has not played Test cricket since 2018, has been recalled.
Malan made 199 this season, for Yorkshire against Sussex in the County Championship. However, his Test record is quite underwhelming: he averages just over 27 from 15 Test matches.
Other than Malan, Lancashire’s Saqib Mahmood has also been named in the squad. Mahmood recently put up a series of excellent performances in the limited-overs series against Pakistan.
ECB also confirmed that Jack Leach will leave the camp to join Somerset for some match practice. Leach has lost his place to Moeen Ali, who provides additional solidity with the bat. Similarly, Zak Crawley will return to Kent.
Ollie Pope is back after recovering from an injury. Pope recently played for Surrey in the Royal London Cup, but got out cheaply on multiple occasions. He may still get in, if England decide to drop one of their several underperforming batters.
The medical team will closely work with Mark Wood to monitor his progress. Wood hurt his right shoulder while fielding on Day 4 at Lord’s. Mahmood is likely to earn his debut cap in case Wood does not recover in time.
‘We are hopeful that Mark Wood will be fit after injuring his right shoulder in the first Test. Our medical team will be working with him each day. We will monitor where he is at when we get to Leeds,’ said Chris Silverwood.
England squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood.