Matthew Potts returns to Old Trafford Test while Harry Brook will be vice-captain

Matthew Potts has been announced as Ben Stokes' replacement in the XI for England's first Test against Sri Lanka, with Harry Brook stepping into the vice-captaincy role for the series to assist stand-in captain Ollie Pope. Potts, who procured the remainder of his six Test covers in the oddball Test against Ireland the previous summer, has been given the gesture in front of individual fast Olly Stone and uncapped player Jordan Cox after Stirs up was managed out of the remainder of the mid year with a hamstring injury supported during the Men's Hundred. Potts, 25, is a colleague of Stirs up for both Durham and Northern Superchargers, and will space in at No. 9 for the apparatus at Emirates Old Trafford, which starts on Wednesday. That implies advancements up the request for Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson, who will bat from No. 6-8 separately. While not exactly an allrounder, Potts is a helpful lower-request player, as displayed by an unbeaten 149 against Warwickshire recently, which was his lady five star century. By and by, the determination adds to the impossible to miss nature of the XI, which likewise includes Dan Lawrence as opener following Zak Crawley's finger injury supported during the last Test against West Indies. Both Potts and Lawrence have needed to wait for their chance. Potts' presentation summer in 2022 brought 20 wickets at 28.00 as he highlighted in the initial five Trial of the Bazball period. In any case, past a sole appearance against Ireland, he has been an extra body around the crew, including toward the beginning of this mid year against West Indies when he was supplanted by Atkinson. For Lawrence, this will be a first Test cap in the new period, however he has still yet to play under Stirs up. He has been a crew normal for the last 17 Test matches - a run which started toward the beginning of 2023 against New Zealand - including the sum of the India visit toward the beginning of the year. Lawrence appeared against Sri Lanka in 2021, with the remainder of his 11 appearances coming toward the finish of the Caribbean visit in Walk 2022, which was Joe Root's last as Test chief. Indeed, even inside that little example size, Lawrence has involved each situation somewhere in the range of No.3 and 7 and will tick off the initial billet this week. While his initial learnings at Essex came as an opener, especially for their subsequent group, just seven of the 27-year-old's 203 five star innings to date have been at the highest point of the request. The latest of those came as a special hitter for new district Surrey against Somerset, completing 54 not out from 34 balls. While the match circumstance was something of an oddity, as Surrey made an aggressive dart at an objective of 209 inside 19 overs, it is that sort of forceful goal Lawrence is hoping to divert in his new, impermanent job. "I think my normal style is to attempt to be forceful, consistently attempt to take the game on and score runs," said Lawrence. "Not really as fast as could be expected, yet attempt to accept each open door. Also, that won't change over the course of the following couple of weeks. All through my entire profession, I've played a specific brand of cricket and that has served me well so I'm about to do exactly the same thing. "I believe it's sort of the style of cricketer that Baz and Stirs up are for the most part later, and my overall approach to going about it is to attempt to be very forceful. So I assume I fit the form more in that viewpoint. "I did really begin my five star vocation as an opener and afterward I've step by step sort of gone all over as I've come. Be that as it may, I'm just truly zeroing in on attempting to partake in the week, as a matter of fact. It ought not be an excess of unique in relation to batting three or four."