Senior pacer Jofra Archer was unavailable for selection due to his participation in the 2026 Indian Premier League season. In his place, England welcomed Ollie Robinson in the 15-man squad with the right-arm pacer set for his first Test cricket appearance in two years
Published: May 13, 2026 7:16 PM IST
After a harsh 4-1 whipping in the 5-match Ashes Test series in Australia earlier this year, England named a drastically changed squad for their first red-ball assignment of the summer against New Zealand, who will tour of a 3-match series, starting from June 4th. Ben Stokes and co, currently 8th in the World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle’s points table, will be hoping to learn from their previous mistakes and come out as a better side.
England’s Bazball era, which still hasn’t come to fruition, continues under the leadership of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes but the selection committee has had their say in team selection for the series against New Zealand. Two of their most trusted players – Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope – have been dropped and for the right reasons.
Both of them have been very inconsistent with Crawley’s batting average dropping down to 31.18 in the Bazball era. He has also had a tough domestic season for Kent with his highest score being 44 in 10 innings. Ollie Pope, who could not even score a single half-century in the Ashes, has faced a similar fate with Jacob Bethell most likely to appear at number 3.
Senior pacer Jofra Archer was unavailable for selection due to his participation in the 2026 Indian Premier League season. In his place, England welcomed Ollie Robinson in the 15-man squad with the right-arm pacer set for his first Test cricket appearance in two years.
Other than Archer, England will miss key pacers like Mark Wood and Brydon Carse, leaving Robinson to form a pace unit with Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue. In the spin department, the Three Lions have named both Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir.
They will be joined by uncapped seamer Sonny Baker and Matthew Fisher, whose last appearance came way back in 2022 against the West Indies.
But the biggest news that is coming after England’s new national selector Marcus North named his first team are the entries of a few uncapped domestic batters. The likes of James Rew and Emilio Gay are expected to fight for Zak Crawley’s spot up top.
Rew has been in an impressive form for Somerset this season, registering a century and three half-centuries. Gay, on the other hand, has amassed 552 runs at an average of 92 in the domestic season which includes three full-centuries for Durham.
England Vs New Zealand 3-match Test series: Schedule
1st Test: 4-8 June at Lord’s
2nd Test: 17-21 June at the Oval
3rd Test: 25-29 June at Trent Bridge
England’s squad for 3-match Test series against New Zealand
Ben Stokes (C), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (WK), Josh Tongue.
