England coach Brendon McCullum is ‘quietly confident’ his team will produce some ‘exciting cricket’ in the second Test with New Zealand, despite the fact they will be playing without dropped skipper Ben Stokes and paceman Gus Atkinson.
England took a 1-0 lead over the Kiwis following a commanding win in the first Test at Lord’s, which has since been overshadowed by off-the-field news.
Stokes and Atkinson breached a midnight curfew following the series opener, with an incident involving a Saracens rugby player attracting an internal investigation by the ECB.
The duo will not be involved at the Kia Oval, meaning McCullum has made four changes to England’s XI for the second Test with the Kiwis, who will themselves be without Kane Williamson following his shock retirement from international cricket.
Test debuts
Jordan Cox and Sonny Baker will make their Test debuts on Wednesday, June 17, while Matthew Fisher and Jofra Archer have also been included in the England squad.
James Rew will make his debut if Jamie Smith is unable to play as the wicketkeeper, as his partner awaits the birth of their child.
Joe Root will take captaincy duties, and McCullum told Sky Sports: “James Rew was our back-up batter in the squad, but that was very much to cover the top-six role.
“Jordan Cox, he obviously was over at the IPL. We wanted to see him come back and see what he could do before we thrust him into that role for the first time.
“He scored a double-hundred, which is a pretty compelling case.
“We think that his power and his rounded game is quite a nice fit at No 7.”
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Exciting option
“We still very much see James Rew as an exciting option for us – and he may even get the nod this week, too – but Coxy’s a fine player.
“He’s been on our radar for a long time across all formats.”
On England’s bowling options, McCullum added: “We knew we wanted to build a battery of fast bowlers.
“I look at that line-up we have this week and it’s super exciting.
“It doesn’t guarantee us success, but it’s a first real test of where we’re at.
“I’m quietly confident we’re going to see some exciting cricket.”
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Angry and gutted
McCullum also addressed the issue of Stokes and Atkinson being dropped, telling Sky Sports: “When I first found out, I was slightly bewildered. You go through a range of emotions.
“You go from being bewildered, to angry, to gutted.
“From the progress that we talked about and discussed over these six months, and what we’re trying to do and the improvements we want to make, which includes the standards we set for ourselves.
“To hear about this was incredibly gutting.
“Quickly through talking to Ben and Gus, my emotion turned to worry and concern – for Ben in particular – and how we support these guys.
“That’s not overlooking the fact they haven’t lived up to the standards we set for ourselves.”
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Michael Davey