Matthew Potts returns to test cricket as England announce XI for 1st test against Sri Lanka

Matthew Potts has played six tests in his career so far and taken 23 wickets.

Seamer Matthew Potts is set to make his comeback to test cricket after more than a year after he was named in England’s XI for the first test against Sri Lanka.

Potts replaces captain Ben Stokes, who has been ruled out of the test series and the rest of the English summer due to a hamstring injury that he picked up during the Hundred earlier this month. Ollie Pope will lead England in Stokes’ absence.

England will take on Sri Lanka in a three-match test series, starting on August 21 at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester.

Matthew Potts earned the last of his six test caps in June 2023. He has 23 scalps at an average of 29 with a best of 4/13.

The inclusion of Potts means England will field a longer tail, though Potts is a handy lower-order batter. Wicket-keeper Jamie Smith, all-rounder Chris Woakes and pacer Gus Atkinson will bat at numbers 6, 7, and 8, respectively, followed by Potts, Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir.

Dan Lawrence replaces the injured Zak Crawley as opener

Another injury-forced change in England’s XI vs Sri Lanka is that of opener Zak Crawley, who will miss the rest of the summer due to a finger injury that he sustained during the last Test against West Indies. He will be replaced by attacking batter Dan Lawrence.

Lawrence has played 11 tests, the last of which was in March 2022. He’s been a regular part of the test setup over the last couple of years but failed to get the nod in the playing XI.

Lawrence said, “I think my natural style is to try and be aggressive, always try to take the game on and score runs. Not necessarily as quickly as possible, but try to take every opportunity. And that won’t change over the next few weeks. Throughout my whole career, I’ve played a certain brand of cricket and that has served me well so I’m just going to do the same thing.

England XI vs Sri Lanka for first test:

1 Dan Lawrence, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk),7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Matthew Potts, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Shoaib Bashir

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