England captain Ben Stokes has decided to make one change in the England playing XI for the second test match against South Africa which is starting tomorrow at Old Trafford. The young fast bowler Matthew Potts has been dropped and Ollie Robinson, who played regularly for England last year, has been brought back into the XI.
Ollie Robinson had to struggle a little bit with his fitness in his debut season in test cricket, as his pace dropped down significantly after the few test matches and the sting in his bowling was completely missing when he played the Ashes series down under in Australia.
But, not only did Robinson pass his fitness test recently, he also made a thumping comeback to the game with a 5-wicket haul in the warm up match against South Africa, while playing for England Lions. Performance in the warm up game earned Robinson a spot in England’s squad for the first test match at Lord’s, but Matthew Potts was still prefered ahead of him in the XI because of his consistency against New Zealand and India earlier in the summer.
England make one change to their team for Old Trafford. Ollie Robinson for Matt Potts.
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) August 24, 2022
Ben Stokes had backed Matthew Potts ahead of the first test at Lord’s
Stokes had said at the toss ahead of the first test that Potts, along with James Anderson and Stuart Broad, has performed so well over the course of the summer that he did not even think about making any change to the fast bowling composition of the team. However, Stokes had to make the change immediately after the Lord’s test, as Potts struggled quite a bit with his rhythm.
With Robinson coming into the XI and slotting in at no. 8, England now has a bit of depth in batting as well, which augurs well with their aggressive brand of cricket, but Robinson’s chief job will be to provide Stokes some breakthroughs with the ball as the first change seam bowler.
England X1 for the second Test against South Africa:
Lees, Crawley, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Stokes (C), Foakes, Ollie Robinson, Leach, Broad & Anderson.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 24, 2022
