England have made two changes to the 13-member squad ahead of the second Test against India, at Lord’s. Dawid Malan has been axed from the side for his dismal outings in red-ball cricket lately.

Oliver Pope, 20, has earned his maiden national call-up and will be replacing Malan. Surrey’s Pope is the second highest run-scorer in County Championship Division One this season.

“Dawid Malan drops out of the squad for Lord's,” said national selector Ed Smith. “Dawid has not found his best rhythm this season, and it may be that his game is better suited to overseas conditions.”

“Ollie Pope has made an exceptional start to his first-class career. He has reached a 1,000 first-class runs in just 15 matches and is the first division's stand-out batsman this season with 684 runs at 85. The selection panel believe that Ollie's performances and character suggest he is well suited to international cricket.”

Chris Woakes has returned to the squad after missing the limited-overs series against Australia and India due to a knee injury sustained during the Test series against Pakistan. He came in as a replacement for Ben Stokes, who has been left out of the squad because of his trial for alleged affray that starts this week.

An enthralling 31-run victory in the first Test gave England a 1-0 lead. They will face the visiting side in the second Test, starting on Thursday (August 9).

 

England squad for second Test