Harry Brook and Matthew Potts were the latest entrants in England’s Test setup, both earning a maiden international call-up for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand.
England have announced a 13-member squad for the first two of three Tests against New Zealand, beginning June2 at Lord’s. The series marks the start of a new era in English cricket, with new personnel taking the charge, with Rob Key, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum taking over as the managing director, captain and head coach respectively.
As for the squad, veteran speedsters James Anderson and Stuart Broad have made a comeback, while Harry Brook and Matthew Potts have earned a maiden international call-up.
23-year-old Potts enters the national side on the back of his brilliance in the ongoing County Championship for Durham.
Matthew Potts is a right-arm quick who is currently representing Durham in the County Championship 2022 Division Two, alongside England’s Test captain Ben Stokes. He has bagged 55 wickets from six games at 18.57 with four five-fors and a 10-wicket match haul against Glamorgan last week. He has shown consistency with speed (clocking around 85 mph) and accuracy thus far in the competition through the 233.5 overs bowled, having bagged a wicket in every 40 balls.
He bagged 6/58, his maiden first-class five-wicket haul against Leicestershire in April and hasn’t looked back since. His 4/61 and 7/40 in the 58-run win over Glamorgan last week was preceded by 6/62 against Worcestershire, which included the wicket of Azhar Ali for a second-ball duck in a successful opening burst. Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett were his other notable scalps in a glorious season thus far.
What a start to the season for Matthew Potts 👏
He took his third 6⃣ wicket haul in 4 games.#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/Jpob2sKbsU
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) May 7, 2022
Potts’ first-class debut came in a 2017 County Championship fixture against Kent, in which he could manage just one wicket across two innings. He made his List A debut during the 2018 One Day Cup, and the first T20 appearance came in the following year’s T20 Blast.
Last month, he was signed up by the Northern Superchargers for the 2022 edition of The Hundred. Till date, he has bagged 77 first-class wickets at 26.9 with four five-fors. He also has 16 List A and 49 T20 scalps from 10 and 40 outings respectively.
Potts will be a part of the seam attack which includes veterans Anderson and Broad, alongside Criag Overton. The first Test will begin at Lord’s on June 2 followed by the second at Trent Bridge (June 10-14) and the third at Headingley (June 23-27).
England squad for the first two Tests: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Alex Lees, Craig Overton, Matthew Potts, Ollie Pope, Joe Root
