England Call Up Wicketkeeper-Batter Ollie Robinson as Injury Replacement for Jordan Cox

England have named young wicketkeeper-batter Ollie Robinson as the injury replacement for Jordan Cox in their ongoing three-match Test series against New Zealand. Robinson, who plays for Durham, could take up wicketkeeping duties in the second Test if given the opportunity to feature in the playing XI.

Jordan Cox, 24, suffered a fractured right thumb during a net session prior to England’s warm-up match against Prime Minister’s XI in Queenstown, forcing him to withdraw from the series. Cox was initially expected to keep wickets throughout the series in the absence of Jamie Smith, who is on paternity leave. As a result of Cox’s injury, England had to hand the wicketkeeping gloves to Ollie Pope during the first Test.

Ollie Robinson, who began his first-class career at Kent before moving to Durham, has amassed 4,174 runs in 78 first-class matches at an average of 37.26, including nine centuries and 23 fifties. In List-A cricket, Robinson has scored 821 runs in 26 games at an average of 39.09, with one century and four fifties. He is also a handy T20 player, with 1,219 runs in 75 matches at a strike rate of 127.91, including six half-centuries.

This series against New Zealand marks England’s final chance to stay mathematically alive in the World Test Championship (WTC) race, should they secure a 3-0 whitewash.

England Test Squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ollie Robinson (wk), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes

New Zealand Test Squad for England Series: Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner (Tests 2 and 3), Nathan Smith, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson, Will Young