Side strain to Hampshire's fast bowler John Turner has brought an unforeseen change to England's T20I squad that will take on New Zealand in a four-match T20I series at home starting August 30.
Turner, 22, picked up the injury while playing for Trent Rockets in the ongoing Men's Hundred and will be replaced by Durham's Brydon Carse. The England Cricket Board (ECB) seems to fast-track Turner's development so that the team has plenty of options to fall back upon when some of the senior players are unavailable either due to workload management or injury. Turner last played for Rockets against Welsh Fire at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on August 14 and picked up a solitary wicket after giving away 22 runs.
Carse has represented the Three Lions in nine ODIs thus far and is rated very highly by the men's selection committee. He last played an ODI for England at Chester-le-Street on July 19, 2022, and might as well get the opportunity to make his T20I debut at the same venue on August 30.
The T20I leg of the white-ball series will be an opportunity for some of the youngsters to impress and stake a claim in the final World Cup squad to be announced later.
All eyes will be on the young right-arm pacer Gus Atkinson, who is a part of the T20I series and has also been named in England's provisional ODI World Cup squad.
England T20I squad against New Zealand:
Jos Buttler, Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse, Luke Wood
New Zealand tour of England, T20I series itinerary:
1st T20I: August 30 (Chester-le-Street)
2nd T20I: September 1 (Manchester)
3rd T20I: September 3 (Birmingham)
4th T20I: September 5 (Nottingham)
