Ranchi, India: Fast bowler Ollie Robinson has been named in England’s squad for the fourth Test against India in Ranchi, starting on Friday, with spinner Shoaib Bashir also getting the nod.
Robinson, 30, last played for England in the third Ashes Test at Headingley in July, where he bowled just 11.2 overs before being sidelined for the rest of the series with back spasms.
He replaces Mark Wood, who played in two Tests for India, while Bashir comes in for Rehan Ahmed.
Bashir, 20, made his Test debut in the second match against India in Visakhapatnam after missing the opening match due to a visa delay.
England suffered a 434-run defeat in the third Test and trailed 2–1 in the five-match series.
The Ranchi pitch is expected to be corkscrew friendly and England captain Ben Stokes wants newcomer Bashir, a tall off-spinner, to use the conditions to his advantage.
“We like to look at the pitch two days in and one out because that’s how we like to pick our XI,” said Stokes, who a day earlier said he had “never seen anything like” the Ranchi wicket.
The surface appears to have deep cracks on one side but appears flat on the other.
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“Someone like Bash to release the ball from such a high release point, that extra bounce that we feel will bring us more into the game,” Stokes said.
The all-rounder Stokes entered the series purely as a batsman following last year’s knee surgery but took to the nets on Wednesday to offer the kind of boost the tourists need after their heavy defeat in the third Test.
On Thursday, he was non-committal about the chances of him bowling in Ranchi, saying “maybe, maybe not”.
Stokes was more bullish on the subject of pace boss James Anderson, who will play his second consecutive match after a break of just five days at the age of 41.
Anderson is four wickets short of 700 Test wickets but returned with only one wicket in the previous match.
“If you’re a young fast bowler, Jimmy Anderson is the only person you want as your role model,” Stokes said of the man dubbed the “king of swing” for his ability to seam the ball both ways.
“Not just the amount of wickets he’s got but the fact he can keep going at his age,” Stokes said, adding that Anderson was “raring to go and feeling fresh as a fiddle”.
England have thrown their weight behind struggling senior batsmen Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root to power through the final two Tests, with the team’s attacking “Bazball” philosophy under scrutiny like never before.
Bairstow, a solid middle-order batsman for his 99th Test, has managed just 102 runs so far.
“If the batsmen have a tough time over a short period, it will be under scrutiny. I don’t look at it that way, I look at what Jonny has contributed over a long period of time, since I’ve been captain,” he said. Stokes.
“He’s got money in the bank, he’s a quality player. He’s someone who’s been very integral to what we’ve done.”
England XI: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley.
