James Vince and Jake Ball are the new faces in England’s Test squad to face Sri Lanka at Headingley next week, with the selectors keeping faith with the bulk of the side who won in South Africa over the winter.
With Vince, the Hampshire captain, poised to come into the team in place of the retired James Taylor at No5, it means Nick Compton will remain at No3 despite a lean start to the season that has returned a top score of 44 in six innings for Middlesex.
Alex Hales will continue as the captain Alastair Cook’s opening partner, with his Nottinghamshire team-mate Ball earning a first senior call-up after taking 19 wickets in his first four championship fixtures this season, to see him joint top of the bowling statistics in Division One.
The 25-year-old right-arm fast bowler, who was part of England’s Lions set-up over the winter, will likely provide back-up for senior seam-bowling colleagues Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Steven Finn when the first Test starts in Leeds on Thursday week.
Vince’s selection comes after impressing the England management both as the captain of the Lions and as a squad member during the World Twenty20 campaign; his century against Yorkshire’s championship-winning attack last month came with the national selector, James Whitaker, in attendance.
The 25-year-old right-hander had been seen as a contender to replace Compton, whose second spell in the England side had started well in the 2-1 win over South Africa when he held the batting together in the victory at Durban, only for his form to fall away during in the series.
“It’s something I’ve been aiming for since I was a little kid really,” said Vince. “Definitely when I was growing up, playing for England in a Test was still the number one. I’ve had the experience of the T20s in Dubai against Pakistan, when it was a good feeling being able to contribute to the team. Being in the World T20 squad was a great experience as well, although obviously I would have liked to have played more of a part. Since then I’ve turned my attention to Hampshire and trying to have a good start to the season. It’s only the last week when I started to notice stuff in the press. But to get the call, it took a while to sink in.”
England have also suffered an injury blow for the one-day series with Sri Lanka that follows the three Tests. The all-rounder David Willey suffered an abdominal problem while playing for Yorkshire in this week’s innings victory over Surrey at Headingley. The left-armer, England’s leading wicket-taker at the World Twenty20, has been told he cannot bowl for six weeks, which would see him struggling to be fit in time for the one-day series opener at Trent Bridge on 21 June.
“I’m hoping to get into rehab as soon as possible, and be back sooner than six weeks,” Willey told Sky Sports News. “But we’ll just have to take it step by step and go by the medical team, and see what they say. You always want to get picked in the England squad but for me at the moment the main priority is getting myself back 100% fit, then get some games under my belt and see where we’re at.”
England squad: Cook (capt), Compton, Root, Hales, Vince, Stokes, Bairstow (wkt), Moeen, Broad, Anderson, Finn, Ball.
