England recall Ollie Robinson for second Test against South Africa

Ollie Robinson has been recalled to the England attack for Thursday’s second Test against South Africa, replacing Matthew Potts for his first appearance in seven months.

The Sussex seamer has not featured for his country since the final game of the Ashes in January due to a series of fitness problems, but has been given the nod at Old Trafford.

Robinson persuaded the selectors he was ready to go with a strong showing in the England Lions victory over the tourists in Chelmsford earlier this month, with Potts dropping out after struggling for rhythm in last week’s innings defeat at Lord’s.

That is the only change to the XI, with openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees retained despite lacking major runs this summer.

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, explained Robinson’s height and ability to extract lift from the pitch was a decisive factor in his comeback and praised his Durham team-mate Potts for a mature response to being left out.

“When you look at what Ollie possesses as a bowler, one of his real key assets is how much extra bounce he gets compared to other bowlers in our squad,” said Stokes. “We think here at Old Trafford, with it being a slightly quicker wicket than other grounds we play at, it obviously offers a lot more bounce. We obviously pick the team we think is going to enable us to win the Test.

“It’s very tough for Matty to miss out, but what he’s done in the five games that he’s played is he’s taken himself from a county cricketer with a lot of promise and really announced himself on the big stage. We’ve got to give him a lot of credit, to handle the decision so professionally at such a young age is a real indication of where we’re at at the moment as a team.

“The selection was based around what we thought was the