England have selected three possible replacements for injured paceman James Anderson, including former Nottinghamshire fast bowler Mark Footitt, after a 14-man party was named for the Fourth Investec Test at Trent Bridge.
Footitt, now of Derbyshire, who has added 50 first-class wickets this season to his haul of 84 in 2014, will go head-to-head with Yorkshire’s Liam Plunkett and Durham's Mark Wood ahead of the game that gets underway on Thursday.
Nottinghamshire’s Stuart Broad is selected on his home ground and will go in search of his 300th Test Match wicket whilst leading the attack in the absence of his established new ball partner.
“With James Anderson missing this Test through injury and some concerns over Mark Wood’s workload in the build up to the last Test we felt that bringing in two extra bowlers in Liam Plunkett and Mark Footitt was necessary,” said National Selector James Whitaker.
“The reports on Wood are positive at this stage and we are hopeful he’ll be available for selection on Thursday.
“Congratulations to Liam and Mark Footitt on their selection and on behalf of the selectors I’d like to wish Alastair and Trevor all the very best for the fourth Test. The performance at Edgbaston this week was very encouraging and it is important we build on that next week at Trent Bridge.”
England squad to face Australia at Trent Bridge (from): Alastair Cook (Essex) (Capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Mark Footitt (Derbyshire), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham) and Mark Wood (Durham).
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