England vs New Zealand: Jacob Bethell named in Test squad as Jamie Smith misses series; Jordan Cox to keep wicket

England have named Warwickshire all-rounder Jacob Bethell in their squad for the three-Test tour of New Zealand with Jamie Smith to miss the trip due to the birth of his first child.

Jordan Cox will keep wicket in Smith’s absence with Bethell – who, like Cox, is uncapped at Test level – added to a 16-player group as batting cover for a series that begins on November 28.

Vice-captain Ollie Pope retains his place despite averaging 11 and recording a top score of 29 in the 2-1 series defeat in Pakistan.

The first New Zealand Test in Christchurch is followed by games in Wellington from December 6 and Hamilton from December 14.

Barbados-born Bethell averages 25.44 across 20 first-class matches and is yet to score a century – he has a best of 93 against Nottinghamshire early in the 2024 season.

But he made some impressive middle-order cameos with the bat against Australia in ODI and T20I cricket in September in what was his first taste of the international game.

The 21-year-old hit a 15-ball Vitality Blast fifty for Birmingham Bears against Northamptonshire this summer.

Bethell also bowls left arm-spin – he struck four times across the five ODIs versus Australia – although that has only yielded seven wickets at an average of 96.14 in red-ball cricket.

Bethell, Cox and leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed – the later retained in the squad as one of three spinners, alongside Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir – will link up with the Test group in New Zealand at the end of their white-ball commitments in West Indies.

Cox to keep wicket in New Zealand

Cox, who was England’s spare batter in Pakistan, scored 918 runs at an average of 65.57 for Essex in County Championship Division One this summer, hitting four hundreds.

He has only kept wicket in six first-class games and not worn the gloves in red-ball cricket since June 2023.

England coach Brendon McCullum said earlier this month, when news of Smith’s likely absence emerged: “New Zealand is a comfortable place to wicket-keep and it would be great to have a look at Cox.

“His keeping is solid. He’s actually annoyingly good at everything he does, one of those guys that you look at and say he’s got a high ceiling in terms of talent, particularly with bat in hand.”

Cox’s selection as wicketkeeper perhaps indicates that Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, both dropped after last winter’s 4-1 defeat in India, may have played their last Tests.

Pope, meanwhile, was firmly backed by McCullum after the loss in Pakistan.

“We know when Popey gets in he gets big scores. It is not an easy place to bat at No 3,” said McCullum, who will also become England white-ball head coach at the start of 2025.

“I know Popey will be disappointed with the volume of runs he has got. I expect him to bounce back in New Zealand and we will make sure he has the support around him to do so.”

New Zealand have just become the first away team to win a Test series in India since 2012, while they held England to a 1-1 draw when they hosted Ben Stokes’ side in early 2023.