England announce squad for Fourth Test

James Vince included

The English Cricket Board has announced a 14 member squad for the fourth Specsavers Test against India at Southampton. After going down in a submissive manner in the third Test of the series, it was expected for England to make a change or two in their set-up.

The doubtful duo of opener Alastair Cook who was expected to miss the fourth Test due to the birth of his third child and wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow who sustained an injury in his finger in the last Test are still in the mix.

There has been a change though in the form of Hampshire batsman James Vince who has replaced Jamie Porter who did not get any match so far in the series. The 27-year old batsman James Vince has been a part of the English side in both ODIs and Tests and he last played a Test match for England in Christchurch against New Zealand.

Currently, in some brilliant form, James has scored 847 runs in the Specsavers County Championship with an impressive average of 56.46 which includes scores like 74 and 147. The National Selector Ed Smith had something to say on the selection of the squad, he quoted;

“James returns to the England set-up in confident form and scoring runs. He has been in excellent form for Hampshire in the Specsavers County Championship, with 847 runs at 56.46, including 74 and 147 this week – runs that shaped Hampshire’s win against Nottinghamshire. James’ match-winning runs also helped Hampshire to win the Royal London Cup earlier this summer.”     

On the other hand, axed medium pacer Jamie Porter who was not a part of the playing eleven of the last three Tests will resume his services for Essex in the next round of the County Championship.

Here is the 14-man squad for the Fourth Test:

Joe Root(c), Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Jos Buttler(wk), Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes.

The fourth Specsavers test will be played at Southampton from August 30 at 3:30 PM IST and 11:00 AM Local.