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England’s cricket board has announced the first Test squad of Joe Root’s second spell as captain — and in 16 names announced on Thursday morning, it told more stories than most press releases manage. A reprieve for Ollie Pope. A return for Dan Lawrence. A door closed on Rehan Ahmed. A fitness concern around Ben Stokes’ most obvious successor. And a first Test series against Pakistan beginning at Headingley on August 19 with the post-BazBall era officially, irreversibly underway.
London, England: Ben Stokes played his last Test match at Lord’s in June. Brendon McCullum was sacked as Test coach in July. Joe Root, who stepped down as captain in 2022 after five years and 64 Tests in the role, is back. And on Thursday, the first squad of his second captaincy sent a series of clear messages about what England’s Test cricket will look like in the seasons ahead.
The series against Pakistan — three Tests across August and September, starting at Headingley on August 19 — is the first assignment of a genuinely new era. Stephen Fleming, appointed McCullum’s successor as Test coach, will not take up his role until England’s winter tour of South Africa. Marcus Trescothick steps in as interim head coach for the Pakistan series. Root leads. The team, in many ways, is still being built.
Pope Returns: Nine Months, 510 Runs, a Second Chance
The headline inclusion is Ollie Pope. England’s former vice-captain and the second-most capped player in the squad at 64 Tests, Pope was dropped during the Ashes series in Australia where he played six innings without making fifty, eventually making way for Jacob Bethell. He has not played for England since.
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He returns on the back of a County Championship campaign that has produced 510 runs at an average of 56.66 for Surrey — the kind of form that demands attention, and the kind that England selectors felt they could not ignore in a new era that explicitly rewards domestic performance. He comes in, however, as a reserve: Pope is not expected to start the first Test unless circumstances change.
“Pope has gone back and played and scored runs at Surrey,” selector Marcus North said. “Apart from Duckett, Root, Brook and Smith, the rest of those players are still very much at the early stages of their careers or trying to re-establish themselves at Test level. To have someone with experience of not just playing but also good leadership and character around the group — and the wicketkeeping as part of his armoury — gives us the ideal person for these first two Tests to be there as a reserve.”
Bethell Out, Cox In at Three
The reason Pope’s return was facilitated in the first place is Jacob Bethell’s absence. The 22-year-old, who has been England’s most exciting batting find in years and played an instrumental role in their Test wins over New Zealand earlier this summer, has been ruled out of the entire three-match series with a right knee injury. He has also been absent from The Hundred Men’s competition this season as he manages the issue.
With Bethell out, Jordan Cox steps up to bat at number three — a considerable responsibility for a player who only recently made his Test debut against New Zealand and has 14 Tests’ worth of international experience. Cox’s composure in The Hundred for London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix this summer will have given selectors confidence that he can handle the pressure.
Lawrence Fills the Stokes-Shaped Hole
Ben Stokes retired from international cricket after England’s series defeat to New Zealand, ending a career of 7,273 runs and 25 five-wicket hauls across 109 Tests. The all-rounder role he occupied at number five and six has not yet been filled. Dan Lawrence is the first attempt.
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The Surrey batter, recalled to the Test squad for the first time since September 2024, is set to bat at number six — with Jamie Smith moving to number seven — and his right-arm off-spin provides England with a genuine second bowling option from the top order. It is his County Championship form that earned the call-up: an average of 65.66 with five centuries, making him the second-highest run-scorer in Division One this season. Lawrence, 28, is playing the best cricket of his life.
“Dan Lawrence returns following an exceptional season so far with Surrey,” North said. “We believe he has the right level of experience, maturity and skill to complement our middle order.”
The subtext was clear: Sam Curran, the MI London captain who impressed in England’s white-ball series against India and has been widely tipped as a like-for-like Stokes replacement, was omitted from the squad — not through lack of quality, but through lack of fitness. “It would be nice to see Sam Curran get an opportunity in that role,” North confirmed. “But we don’t have that option moving into the first two Tests. If Sam was someone we felt was ready to perform with the challenges that Test cricket throws at you mentally and physically, he would have been in that squad.”
Bashir Keeps His Place, Ahmed Loses His
The spinner selection generated the sharpest debate. Rehan Ahmed, who featured in all three England Test squads for the New Zealand series in June without making the starting XI on a single occasion, has been dropped altogether. Shoaib Bashir retains his place and is expected to be England’s first-choice spinner against Pakistan.
The decision is not straightforwardly justified by numbers. Ahmed is averaging 35.16 with the bat in the County Championship with a high score of 128, and has taken 12 wickets with his leg spin. Bashir, playing a division below with Derbyshire, has taken slightly more wickets at a worse economy and averages 7.00 with the bat. It is not a statistical argument for Bashir’s superiority.
“We feel that Bashir is our number one spinner,” North said. “He’s finding himself in a tricky little period. He’s going to want the opportunities to play, and he’s finding himself in and out of squads playing the odd match — that poses different challenges for a young kid developing his game.”
The subtext here too was pointed: Ahmed is being judged as a development case rather than a selection priority, with North acknowledging that the Leicestershire leg-spinner’s lack of playing opportunities in the squad had made his position difficult. Whether that development is served better from inside the squad or from outside it is a question England’s new management have answered, at least for now, in a way that many will contest.
McCullum’s Parting Words: Brook’s Time Will Come
In a brief aside that carried its own significance, Brendon McCullum — sacked as Test coach but retained as England’s white-ball coach — addressed the Harry Brook captaincy question that had briefly animated English cricket when Root’s appointment was announced. Brook had been considered a candidate for the role before Root’s return was confirmed.
“He’s a wonderful player and he’s doing a fine job as white-ball leader,” McCullum told Sky Sports at Lord’s during The Hundred. “I think his time will come in the Test job. At some stage in the future he will have a very important role in that capacity. But for now Joe will do an amazing job.”
Root, for his part, declined to address the future captaincy question and said simply that his focus was Pakistan.
England 16-man squad for 1st and 2nd Tests vs Pakistan: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue
Key absentees: Jacob Bethell (right knee injury), Sam Curran (fitness), Rehan Ahmed (dropped)
Schedule — England vs Pakistan, Test series 2026: 1st Test: August 19–23, Headingley, Leeds 2nd Test: August 27–31, Lord’s, London 3rd Test: September 9–13, Edgbaston, Birmingham
Coaching: Marcus Trescothick (interim, Pakistan series) | Stephen Fleming (full-time, from South Africa tour)
