Zak Crawley out as England announce squad for Sri Lanka Tests

The England and Wales Cricket (ECB) on Sunday announced a 14-member squad for the upcoming home Test series against Sri Lanka, with top-order batter Zak Crawley missing out due to an injury.

England will host Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series, starting on August 21 at Old Trafford.

Crawley has been ruled out of the series due to a fractured finger. He sustained the injury while attempting a catch in the last Test of the three-match series against West Indies.

In Crawley’s absence, Dan Lawrence is expected to open the innings alongside Ben Duckett during the Sri Lanka series.

England are scheduled to tour Pakistan for a three-match Test series in October after the series against Sri Lanka.

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Zak Crawley is now in a race against time as the typical recovery period for a broken finger is approximately six to eight weeks, and the upcoming series against Pakistan is just nine weeks away.

Essex’s Jordan Cox has received his first call-up to the England squad for the Sri Lanka Tests, following his outstanding performance in the County Championship.

Cox scored an impressive 763 runs at an average of 69.36 in 12 matches this season.

Meanwhile, pace bowler Olly Stone has returned to the squad in place of uncapped seam bowler Dillon Pennington, who suffered a hamstring injury during The Hundred.

England squad for Sri Lanka series

Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

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