Delhi: England has announced its playing eleven for the first match of the three-match Test series against New Zealand. Young all-rounder Jacob Bethel will debut in Test cricket. He has been selected to bat at number 3. Making changes in the batting order, Ollie Pope has been placed at number 6, who will also do wicketkeeping in this match. The first test will start from 28th November in Christchurch.
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Bethel has never batted at number 3 in first-class cricket. Bethel, who plays for Warwickshire, has scored 738 runs in 20 matches at an average of 25.44 and has also taken 7 wickets. Playing for Birmingham Phoenix, he scored 165 runs in 7 matches and after this performance he also made his debut for England in T20 and ODI. Jacob Bethel has been bought by RCB team in IPL auction 2025. RCB has made a bid of Rs 2.60 crore for him.
At the same time, England’s regular wicketkeeper Jordan Cox is out of the series due to injury. He did not get a chance to debut due to injury to his thumb during the net session. Cox was included in the team in place of Jamie Smith, who is on paternity leave. Now Pope will take over the responsibility of wicketkeeping.
This series will be very important for Pope, because his performance in recent matches has been average. At the same time, England has given the responsibility of opening to Ben Duckett and Jack Crawley. Joe Root and Harry Brook will bat at numbers 4 and 5 respectively. Captain Ben Stokes will remain at number 7.
England’s playing eleven is as follows:
Jack Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethel, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson.