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England Recall Ollie Robinson and Add Three Uncapped Players for New Zealand Test
England have ended Ollie Robinson's two-year absence from the Test team and included uncapped players Emilio Gay, James Rew and Sonny Baker in the squad for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's starting 4 June. Zak Crawley has been omitted following the Ashes series defeat in Australia. The squad also confirms the appointment of Australian Marcus North as the new national selector.
May 13, 7:06 AM·2m read1 source
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England have ended Ollie Robinson's two-year international exile and called up uncapped trio Emilio Gay, James Rew and Sonny Baker for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's beginning 4 June. Sussex seamer Robinson, 32, returns after being dropped in 2024 as England look for an attack leader following the retirements of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Chris Woakes in successive years.
Robinson has taken 76 wickets at an average below 23 in his 20 Test matches. He was contacted by England management at the beginning of the season and has been captaining Sussex, for whom he has taken 17 wickets and scored a century this season. As expected, opener Zak Crawley has been left out for the first time since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took charge of the Test team in 2022.
52 across 104 innings as opener. His place is likely to go to Durham's Emilio Gay, 26, a specialist opener who has scored three centuries for his county this season. Gay holds the advantage over fellow left-hander James Rew, 22, for the opening spot alongside Ben Duckett.
Rew, who has 12 first-class hundreds, has been asked to open for Somerset but was dismissed for four and nought in his most recent match in that position. He is therefore expected to wait for a middle-order opportunity.
Ben Stokes, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue. Shoaib Bashir returns to the squad after being ignored for the entire Ashes series and will compete with Rehan Ahmed for the spinner's place.
Ahmed could make his home Test debut. The pace-bowling group also includes Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Fisher and 23-year-old Sonny Baker. Jofra Archer is unavailable until the second Test while playing in the Indian Premier League, and Brydon Carse is recovering from a broken wrist.
