Ben Stokes has announced James Anderson will return to the team in place of Jamie Overton for England's rearranged final Test against India, starting on Friday.
The England skipper also confirmed Ben Foakes remains out as he continues to recover from Covid, meaning Kent's Sam Billings keeps his place behind the stumps. "Unfortunately Foakesy hasn't recovered as well as we'd have liked him to," Stokes said. "So Sam is going to stay in the team and keep. "(Foakes) hasn't really recovered from last week and doesn't feel like he could give the best account of himself this week.
We took the decision out of his hands and said 'get yourself better'." Overton's omission follows an impressive performance against New Zealand that saw him fire 97 with the bat as part of a key partnership with Jonny Bairstow to spark an England revival from 55-6.
He had replaced Anderson in the team as England's record wicket-taker sat out the final game due to injury. "That's how sport at the top level works sometimes," Stokes said. "It must be very disappointing for him but he can walk away knowing he did everything he could." Stokes also offered his backing to opener Zak Crawley after the Kent man endured a difficult time against New Zealand's bowling attack, managing four single-digit scores between knocks of 43 and 25. "When we picked the squad before we'd even played a Test match the squad was picked on the basis that every player in every position is the best player in England to carry us forward in the way we want to," said Stokes. "This team and this squad is going to be given a lot of time to perform.