Gus Atkinson, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir have earned call-ups to the 16-member England squad for the five-Test tour of India. After the announcement, a clip of Bashir’s maiden over in the County Championship went viral over social media. In the video, Bashir can be seen extracting significant spin to beat the legendary Alastair Cook twice while bowling for Somerset.
Shoaib, a 20-year-old offie with only six first-class games behind him, has picked 10 wickets so far with 3/67 being his top effort. His variations have caused trouble to even experienced batters during the County season.
Ben Foakes returns as an alternative wicket-keeper to Jonny Bairstow, while Ben Stokes will captain the side, subject to his recovery from the recent knee surgery. Vice-captain Ollie Pope is also back in the Test set-up having injured his shoulder in the second Ashes Test.
England Test squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root Mark Wood
Shoaib Bashir is bowling for the first time in @CountyChamp cricket and immediately has Cook in trouble. 60/0
LIVE STREAM ➡️ https://t.co/aRtGCP76ez#ESSvSOM#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/bkRuJ4i5Qf
— Somerset Cricket 🏆 (@SomersetCCC) June 11, 2023
