England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced a 14-man squad for the first two Tests against West Indies with the first Test starting on July 10 at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The squad includes Nottinghamshire pacer Dillon Pennington and Surrey’s wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith, who made his ODI debut in 2023.
Pennington has taken 29 wickets for Nottinghamshire in the ongoing County Championship Division One averaging 23.03 for Smith, he has scored 507 runs averaging 50.70 for Surrey.
The squad includes another Surrey player, Gus Atkinson, who toured with the English team earlier this year and returned uncapped. Atkinson has represented the English team in nine ODIs and three T20Is taking three and six wickets respectively.
Jonny Bairstow has been excluded from the squad after the wicketkeeper-batter failed to perform against India in the five-match Test series earlier this year. His highest score in the series was 39 in England’s second innings in the fifth Test.
Along with Bairstow, Ben Foakes also failed to make it to the squad and the uncapped Smith will keep the wickets in their stead.
Chris Woakes has also been called up for the first two Tests against the West Indies. The pacer last played for England in the Ashes 2023 and won the Player of the Series award as he took 19 wickets in six innings at an average of 18.15.
The Ben Stokes led team will begin their quest against West Indies on July 10 at Lord's.
England's squad for first two Tests against West Indies:
Ben Stokes (Captain), James Anderson (First Test only), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes.