England name Adam Lyth and Mark Wood in squad to face New Zealand

England have named a 12-man squad for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, starting next Thursday. The side that lost the final Test to West Indies in Barbados have been retained with the exception of the retired Jonathan Trott, and there is the inclusion of two uncapped players in the opener Adam Lyth and the Durham fast bowler Mark Wood. The selectors, who for the first time included Andrew Strauss, have resisted the opportunity to expand options further by adding the name of Adil Rashid.

Lyth finally gets a chance having been sitting on the sidelines through England’s tour of the Caribbean when he really ought to have made his debut following a prolific summer, runs on the Lions tour to South Africa, and in the warm-up matches in St Kitts. He came very close to being selected for the final Test in Bridgetown, the decision to go one last time with Trott probably down to Alastair Cook, who will now have another opening partner, his fifth since the retirement of Strauss in the autumn of 2012.

In announcing the squad James Whitaker, the national selector, said of Lyth: “He has waited patiently for an opportunity with England having performed consistently for Yorkshire and England Lions in the last year. He fully deserves his chance to cement a place in the side at the top of the order.”

The selection of Wood, 25, is an interesting one. This is a fast bowler, not particularly tall, who bowls a full, skiddy length and swings the ball, both in orthodox fashion and reverse, and it is these qualities that bring him into the frame for a place in the XI at Lord’s, probably instead of Chris Jordan. He does bowl right on the limit, with no further gear, part of the reason why even at his young age he has struggled with injuries. But the Lord’s pitch in recent years has gained a reputation for getting easier as the match progresses, with a real difficulty in bowling out sides a second time. If the weather stays dry, reverse swing, bowled with his trajectory, would certainly be more effective than taller, bang-it-in bowlers. “He too has impressed,” said Whitaker of Wood, “and his pace and style of bowling ensure the coach and captain have options in the bowling attack.”

At New Road, meanwhile, where the first day of Worcestershire’s match against the New Zealanders was washed out, the visitors’ coach revealed that because of Kevin Pietersen’s inability to return to Sunrisers Hyderabad, his IPL franchise, because of injury, the Kiwi batsman Kane Williamson, also with the franchise, has been required to stay longer than expected. Their two other IPL players, Matt Henry and Corey Anderson, are arriving forthwith but Williamson will not have as much time to prepare for the Test.

“The only thing that directly affects us regarding Pietersen is that he is not going to the IPL now,” said Mike Hesson, “which means that Kane has to stay behind, which is the only thing that we are concerned about really. We didn’t expect him to come but we had some hopes … they’ve been dashed. That’s the way it goes, I suppose. Kane is a very professional young man so he will be doing plenty of work over there and use the two or three days when he gets here to prepare himself. I still expect him to put in a good performance come the first Test. I wouldn’t say we expected him to be here to play in this game, we hoped he might. The thing with the IPL if players are playing then they tend to hang around and if they are not involved often they get early release.

“Sometimes that happens sometimes it doesn’t. We expected everyone to be here by 18 May and they will be.”

England 12 for 1st Test v New Zealand

Alastair Cook (Essex), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jimmy Anderson (Lancashire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham).