England No. 3 batter Jacob Bethell is fit to play the first cricket test against New Zealand starting on Thursday despite having to cut short his time in the Indian Premier League because of a finger injury on his left hand.
Bethell was forced to leave eventual before the playoffs so he could be assessed and monitored by England鈥檚 medical team ahead of the New Zealand series.
England coach Brendon McCullum said on Tuesday that Bethell鈥檚 finger was 鈥渇ine.鈥�
鈥淗e was operating at gully in our training yesterday and he鈥檚 absolutely fine, so there鈥檚 no problems there,鈥� McCullum said.
鈥淗e should be able to bowl as well, which is quite handy for us to have another bowling option in the top order.鈥�
Bethell was one of the few successes from the 4-1 loss to Australia in Ashes Down Under, in Sydney in the final test. He has played six tests in total 鈥� averaging 43 鈥� but only once on home soil when he batted at No. 6 and made 6 and 5 against India last year.
Now he is England鈥檚 No. 3, replacing Ollie Pope, but has a lack of experience in red-ball cricket. He has played only once in England鈥檚 four-day County Championship since August 2024, according to the BBC.
McCullum said there鈥檇 be 鈥渘o excuses鈥� for Bethell this summer, starting at Lord’s this week.
鈥淗is game looks in good order,鈥� McCullum said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure working in India, I know it鈥檚 probably not ideal from a structure point of view and maybe not getting as much red-ball games under his belt, but he has a calm head and he鈥檚 a very methodical preparer in terms of the mental side of the game.”
Bazball to be 鈥榬efined鈥�
McCullum and England captain Ben Stokes after the Ashes despite calls for change because of problems on and .
McCullum was asked on Tuesday what England fans can expect of his chastened team in the test series against the Kiwis and Pakistan when 鈥淏azball鈥� will be under scrutiny.
鈥淲e still want to be recognizable from the past,鈥� he said, “but we just want to hopefully be a cricket team which has evolved somewhat in some of the key areas where we’ve identified that we’ve fallen short previously. We want to be a team which is better under pressure, a team which can navigate tactically, that can understand where you sit in the game and what’s required.
鈥淲e still want the identity of the past,鈥� he added, 鈥渂ut we want a more refined version of it.鈥�
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