NZ vs ENG: Jacob Bethell handed England Test debut against New Zealand

In a rejig forced by the injury to wicketkeeper Jordan Cox, Ollie Pope will take the gloves and drop down the order to bat at six with Bethell coming in at first-drop.

FILE PHOTO: Jacob Bethell make his Test debut for England against New Zealand. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

England’s Jacob Bethell will bat at number three for the first time in First-Class cricket when he makes his Test debut against New Zealand at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval on Thursday.

In a rejig forced by the injury to wicketkeeper Jordan Cox, Ollie Pope will take the gloves and drop down the order to bat at six with Bethell coming in at first-drop ahead of Joe Root, who will play his 150th test.

England confirmed its line-up for the first of three Tests against the Black Caps before training on Tuesday morning with Bethel’s selection the major surprise.

The 21-year-old, who was born and raised in Barbados, has impressed with his clean striking in the shorter formats and made his Twenty20 and One-Day international debuts against Australia in September.

Bethell has never scored a century in any format of the game and has an average of only 25.44 in First-Class cricket.

Cox was supposed to win his first cap on Thursday as a stand in for regular wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who is on paternity leave, but fractured his thumb in a net session on Sunday.

Pope has previous experience of keeping wickets in test cricket and will hold the fort until a specialist replacement is flown out from Britain.

The rest of the batting order remains the same as the line-up from the third test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in late October but the bowling unit has been overhauled in anticipation of a greentop in Christchurch.

Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse will form a three-pronged seam attack with off-spinner Shoaib Bashir offering skipper Ben Stokes a slow-bowling option.

England:

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes (captain), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir.