Ben Stokes has announced that Stuart Broad will return to England’s line-up for the first Test against New Zealand as the touring side look to take their BazBall adventure even further.
Stokes’ line-up was as expected, with Broad, who missed England’s tour of Pakistan for the birth of his first child, beating Olly Stone and Matty Potts to the final spot in the XI.
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley will continue to open the batting, with Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Stokes and Ben Foakes making up the rest of the line-up, whilst the left-arm spin of Jack Leach and the seam of Ollie Robinson, Broad and James Anderson make up the bowling unit.
Stokes said: “The way in which we’ve gone about our selections and stuff like that, especially in England and here, [which are] similar conditions, the team we pick, especially with the ball, has the bases all covered.”
The north island of New Zealand has been battered by Cyclone Gabrielle over the past few days, but Mount Maunganui has survived the worst of it with clear skies greeting locals on Tuesday morning when it was feared the storm could be at its peak.
However, there is still the prospect of some rain in the days ahead, in which case attention is turning to what Stokes will have up his sleeve in terms of forcing a result. England don’t do draws anymore and the England skipper has previously said he’d be happy to forfeit an innings if it means his team could force a win.
“I don’t know if the weather is going to play any part in this game going forward,” Stokes said, “but I’m sure we’ll still come up with a way to hopefully force a result regardless of how much time is taken away.”
Stokes’ own fitness is not a complete given. He has taken two days off bowling to nurse a long-standing knee complaint, but insists that everything will be OK when it comes to matchday.
“In terms of myself,” said Stokes, “it will be similar to Pakistan, picking the moment when it will be best to get my overs in.
“Everything is good, bowling wise. I’ll have a trundle tomorrow, it’s just making sure I get everything I need in before we start.”
England are likely to be facing an inexperienced New Zealand bowling attack containing potentially two debutants in Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn, who have been called up to replace stalwarts Kyle Jamieson, who has suffered from a suspected recurrence of a stress fracture, and Matt Henry, who is absent expecting his first child.
Combined with the fact that the much maligned pink ball is being used, which has been berated for not moving off the straight and narrow, it is a combination of factors that will leave a powerful England batting line-up licking its lips.
“I wouldn’t say we necessarily say we go out there and try and break these records,” Stokes said of his team’s hot streak that has seen them win nine of their last ten. “I think it’s just something that comes with the way we’ve gone about it.
“At the end of the first game in Pakistan,” Stokes said on England’s game in Rawalpindi where the visitors over 500 on the opening day, “I’m not going to lie, when Colly [Paul Collingwood] read out all the records we’d managed to set or rewrite names into the history books, it was something to look back and realise how special that game was in particular.”
Asked where his inspiration as a leader comes from, Stokes cited Collingwood from his time playing under him for Durham and Eoin Morgan who revolutionised England’s white-ball set-up, before insisting that he is a leader of instinct and action rather than study and planning.
“If I did too much studying, it’s probably not being true to myself,” Stokes concluded. “Just very instinctive. But I’m not naive to not listen and I understand the amount of experience I’ve got in the dressing room. I do open it up a lot.
“Not necessarily a player who I liked but a film character that Brad Pitt played in Fury. Just trying to set an example by the things that you do and say, and if you do say something then going out and actually doing it, because that’s when you get a really good response. Sometimes failing doing that is better for the group.”
You can hear live and exclusive ball-by-ball commentary of England’s two-match Test series against New Zealand on talkSPORT 2, with our coverage getting underway at 12am on Thursday morning
