For this week’s opening Test match against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, England called up seam bowler Stuart Broad on Wednesday, reuniting him with seasoned partner Jimmy Anderson.
Along with 40-year-old Anderson, England’s all-time leading bowler with 675 dismissals, and seamer Ollie Robinson, Broad, who has 566 Test wickets, will head the attack.
For the first time, captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes will captain England in his native nation. Spinner Jack Leach will round out the bowling assault for the day-night match starting on Thursday.
Following the birth of his child, the 36-year-old Broad missed the 3-0 Test series victory over Pakistan in December.
Despite New Zealand being under a state of emergency as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, the opening game of the two-Test series is anticipated to start on time.
The Bay Oval surface, which often favors the side bowling first, has been covered for a significant portion of the buildup due to the storm, but Stokes was unsure of how it would behave.
“Watching Test matches in New Zealand in the past, I don’t think you can look too much into the wickets here when they’re green like that,” he said.
“The two-day practice game we played (last week in Hamilton), the wicket was very green, had a lot of grass on it, and it played very, very true.
