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Josh Hull set for England Test debut vs Sri Lanka at The Oval


Josh Hull, a 6ft 7in left-arm seamer, will make his England debut in their third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval, which starts on Friday. He will replace Matthew Potts in England’s only change from the side that won by 190 runs at Lord’s to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

Hull, who only turned 20 last month, was a left-field replacement when Mark Wood was ruled out of the series with a thigh injury. He has taken 11 wickets at 84.54 in his nine County Championship appearances for Leicestershire, but his physical attributes piqued the interest of England’s management and he took match figures of 5 for 74 on England Lions debut last month.

He has also been named in England’s white-ball squads to face Australia later this month – though his involvement at The Oval will likely rule him out of contention for the first T20I at the Utilita Bowl next Wednesday, with a 24-hour turnaround from the scheduled end of the third Test.

Ollie Pope, who is standing in for the injured Ben Stokes as captain, said last week that there is “a lot to like” about Hull. “He’s not played a massive amount of cricket yet, but we’ve seen [other young players] who have come in and done well… When you’re 6ft 7in, left-arm and can swing the ball at good pace, there’s a lot to work with.”

England XI vs Sri Lanka: 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 Olly Stone, 10 Josh Hull, 11 Shoaib Bashir

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