The uncapped Nottinghamshire spinner Liam Patterson-White has been rewarded for his most productive County Championship season with a call-up up to England’s squad for their first red-ball assignment of the winter, the three Tests against South Africa that start in Johannesburg next month.
The potential importance of spin bowling in South Africa was demonstrated in their recent home series against Australia, which the hosts won to propel themselves to No1 in the ICC rankings and in which their most successful bowler was Simon Harmer, who took 14 wickets at 29.35. England will face contrasting conditions, particularly in their first two Tests, and have selected further spin-bowling options in Dan Lawrence, Joe Root and Jacob Bethell, who returns after missing England’s most recent Test series, against Pakistan, through injury, But Shoaib Bashir, a fixture of the country’s Test squads since he made his debut in India in 2024, will travel only with the Lions.
“We’ve got two Tests in the Highveld, which is slightly different to what Australia had,” said Marcus North, England men’s national selector. “Highveld tends to not spin as much, so it tends to be more favourable for the pace bowlers. But we feel we’ve got that balance within our squad that if we didn’t pick a specialist spinner we have got plenty of options that could support four quicks.”
Patterson-White, who turned 28 on Sunday, was the most successful spinner in the County Championship this summer, taking 42 wickets, and was rewarded with a 12-month development deal when the England and Wales Cricket Board announced their central contracts last month. “We were looking for someone to spin the ball away from the right-hander,” said North. “Liam has got some great attributes. There’s a lot of consistency with Liam and his bowling. We feel he’s really matured over the last two seasons at Nottinghamshire. He’s got the ability to hold, but also to get into the game at the back end.”
Brydon Carse, the Durham seamer who has not been picked by England since being involved in an altercation outside a Derby nightclub in August, has been handed a way back to the Test team, albeit an indirect one: he too will join the Lions, along with former Test bowlers Matthew Potts, Olly Stone and Matthew Fisher, but at least one member of that squad will be promoted for the first Test, which Josh Tongue is scheduled to miss for the birth of his second child. “In the last few months he’s kind of stood back and there’s been a ton of reflection. It’s obviously been a challenging time,” said North of Carse. “We feel that he’s in a place where we can introduce him back into the England environment and we feel the Lions is the right place for him to come.”
England are yet to decide how, or if, Bethell will be accommodated following his return from a knee injury. In his absence Jordan Cox averaged 50.50 in the No3 position that Bethell appeared to have locked down, and with England’s openers, Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay, having averaged 26.36 and 24.63 respectively over the home summer, and 20.40 as a pair, the change may come at the top of the order. “That’s going to be a difficult decision,” said North. “We know we’ve got a number of different options and balances that we can go with. Coming into this Test series, I think it’s fair to say that we’re not walking in there with a locked-in six. We’re keeping our minds open.”
England are currently ranked fifth in Tests by the ICC and are sixth in the World Test Championship standings, in which South Africa, the defending champions, are second. North said England’s ambition is to “climb up those rankings to be No1”. “That means taking the World Test Championship far and deep as well,” he added. “The best teams in the world, like South Africa, Australia, India and New Zealand, are all competing for [places in] that final, so that’s a place we want to be in. You can’t do that without winning series away from home and those big series against the best teams in the world. The focus is now how we’re going to dot hat and what we need to put in place to give our players the best opportunity to fulfil their talent as individuals and as a side which then fulfils those objectives of being the best in the world.”
Sam Curran asked not to be considered for the series, which clashes with his wedding, a decision North said he “understands and supports”.
England Men’s Test squad: Joe Root (Yorkshire; capt), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Sonny Baker (Hampshire), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Sam Cook (Essex), Jordan Cox (Essex), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Emilio Gay (Durham), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire).
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