England have called up uncapped 21-year-old James Rew to their squad for the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe later this month.
England had selected uncapped Essex wicketkeeper-batter Jordan Coxin their squad for the Test match against Zimbabwe, scheduled to be played at Trent Bridge between May 22 and 25.
Two days after the squad was announced, Cox sustained an abdominal muscle injury while battingfor Essex during a County Championship match against Somerset. After sustaining the injury on 98*, he reached his hundred and retired hurt immediately, playing no further part in the game which Somerset went on to win.
This is not the first time that an injury has denied Cox a Test debut (though he played three ODIs and T20Is in 2024). England also included him in their squad for their three-match Test series against New Zealand late last year. Cox was set to keep wicket with Jamie Smith on paternity leave, but a broken right thumb kept his debut on hold.
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Replacement for Jordan Cox
England have replaced Cox with Somerset’s Rew, whose 116 helped Somerset chase 321 in the same match in which Cox sustained his injury. At only 21, Rew has 2,688 first-class runs at 43.35 along with 118 catches and five stumpings from 45 first-class matches. He has gone past fifty 18 times, and have converted 10 of those to hundreds. His century at the weekend made him the youngest Englishman since Denis Compton to reach 10 first-class hundreds.
He has also played for the England Under-19s, and made 95 out of 189 in the final of the 2022 Under-19 World Cup. Last winter, he toured Australia with the England Lions.
Rew has been in excellent form this summer, averaging 54.21 in first-class cricket, and has long been touted as a future England prospect. He is one of two uncapped players in the squad, the other being Cox’s Essex teammate Sam Cook.
Quiz! Every cricketer to appear in an England-Zimbabwe Test match
England Test squad for Zimbabwe Test
Ben Stokes (captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, James Rew, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue
