England hand Liam Patterson-White maiden Test call-up for South Africa series

London: England have handed uncapped left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White his first Test call-up for next month’s three-match series against South Africa. Batting all-rounder Jacob Bethell returns to the England Test squad after recovering from a knee injury.

Patterson-White and Bethell are the only two changes from the side that swept Pakistan 3-0 at the end of England’s home summer. The series against South Africa, the current ICC World Test Championship winners, will start in Johannesburg on December 17 and is also Stephen Fleming’s first assignment as England’s Test head coach.

Bethell is currently with England’s white-ball squad in Australia and will join the Test group straight after the fourth T20I in Sydney on November 29. Patterson-White’s selection comes after he had a fine season for Nottinghamshire. He claimed 42 County Championship wickets at 25.11, the most by any spinner in Division One, and also made a century.

He was handed an ECB development contract last month and has now moved ahead of Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed, who have been named in the England Lions squads instead. The Test squad has no specialist spinner and Patterson-White will be supported by the part-time spin bowling from captain Joe Root, Dan Lawrence and Bethell.

The selectors have also looked past Somerset’s Jack Leach, another left-arm spinner who played the last of his 39 Tests in October 2024. Pacer Josh Tongue, who was ruled out of the white-ball trip in Australia due to a toe injury, will miss the first Test to be present for the birth of his second child, while Sam Curran is unavailable due to his wedding.

England Test squad: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Liam Patterson-White, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue. IANS

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