Woakes returns as England announce playing XI for the first Test against India
Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes returned to the team as England announced the eleven-man squad for the first Test match against India on Wednesday.
All-rounder Ben Stokes will lead the team and Jamie Smith has been selected as the wicket-keeper. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett will open the innings for England while Ollie Pope is slated to come at number three and Joe Root will come at number four.
Harry Brook, Stokes, and Jamie Smith will form the middle order.
Woakes will lead the inexperienced bowling line-up that has pacer Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, and spinner Shoaib Bashir.
The first Test match between England and India will be played at Headingley in Leeds from June 20 to 24 and the match will start at 3:30 PM IST.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna.
According to the BBC, the weather in Leeds — which lies in the Northern Hemisphere of the United Kingdom and generally is quite cold during these months — is expected to be bright and sunny for the first three days of the Test, with the maximum temperature rising to as high as 29 degrees Celsius. However, the maximum temperature will drop to 23 degrees for the last two days of the Test, with slight rain forecast as well.
Headingley holds the status of one of the best Test playing grounds in the world. It has historically been favourable for batting. But spinners stay in the hunt in the latter half of the Test. If the condition (weather) is conducive, the pacers can also be lethal on this surface.
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