England’s selection crisis takes latest turn: Jamie Smith to miss second Test against New Zealand with Joe Root set to field THREE debutants

Jamie Smith’s decision to pull out of the second Test on paternity leave means England will hand out three new caps against New Zealand at The Oval on Wednesday. 

Surrey wicketkeeper Smith’s second child was born on Tuesday, and he will now spend time with his young family, providing the chance for Somerset’s James Rew to take the gloves, debuting alongside Jordan Cox of Essex and Hampshire fast bowler Sonny Baker.

It is nine years since England included a trio of freshers in a Test XI, stretching back to another Oval match – when Dawid Malan, Tom Westley and Toby Roland-Jones featured in a thumping win over South Africa.

The common denominator between that match and this is that Joe Root captains England, having resumed the role on a temporary basis while Ben Stokes is subject of a probe into his breaking – along with team-mate Gus Atkinson – of a midnight team curfew in the aftermath of the 115-run win over the Black Caps at Lord’s.

Rew, 22, has been in both England’s Test squads this summer as a batting option, having passed 50 on half a dozen occasions in the County Championship.

However, when England named their team 48 hours out Stokes’s place was taken by Cox, whose counter-attacking style was viewed as perfect for the role of No 7. Cox celebrated his first first-class innings since last July by taking a double hundred off Leicestershire last weekend.

Baker, capped in both white-ball formats in 2025, was in the 12-man match day squad for Lord’s, and comes into an attack missing both Atkinson and Ollie Robinson, both of whom bagged seven wickets in the opening contest of the series.

In addition to the three newbies, Emilio Gay and Matthew Fisher are both winning just their second caps, making this one of the most inexperienced Test teams England have fielded this century.