England have called up two uncapped players to their squad for the remainder of the Test series in India with Keaton Jennings, the Durham left-hander, replacing Haseeb Hameed and Hampshire’s Liam Dawson in for his fellow left-armer Zafar Ansari.
Jennings, 24, top scored in Division One last season with 1,548 runs and is expected to make his debut in the fourth Test in Mumbai on 8 December, filling the spot vacated by Hameed. The 19-year-old suffered a broken left little finger during the eight-wicket defeat in Mohali and will now fly home for surgery.
Ansari meanwhile was afflicted by back spasms during the second Test in Visakhapatnam and missed out in Mohali with his replacement, Gareth Batty, going wicketless. He will remain with the squad to continue his treatment before returning home at the start the Mumbai Test, with Dawson taking his place in the squad.
Dawson claimed just 20 first-class wickets at 42 runs apiece last summer but has already been part of England’s limited overs squads, making debuts in one-day and Twenty20 cricket during the summer.
The 26-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder, who has been playing the Bangladesh Premier League recently, was preferred to Somerset’s Jack Leach, the leading English spinner last season with 65 wickets in the County Championship.
