England drops Lawrence and calls up uncapped Carse and Cox for Pakistan cricket test tour

LONDON (AP) — England dropped batter Dan Lawrence and called up uncapped seam bowler Brydon Carse, weeks after he completed a ban for breaching betting violations, for the three-match test tour of Pakistan in October.

England's 17-man squad was announced on Tuesday and included opener Zak Crawley and captain Ben Stokes, who both missed the recent series against Sri Lanka because of finger and hamstring injuries, respectively.

Lawrence played as a makeshift opener against the Sri Lankans in Crawley's absence but failed to impress, with his highest score being 35. Jordan Cox, who is uncapped at test level and will play for England for the first time in the upcoming white-ball matches against Australia, replaced Lawrence.

Carse is the other uncapped player summoned after serving a three-month ban for historical breaches of betting rules. The South Africa-born pacer was banned for 16 months, but 13 of them were suspended and he was free to resume playing on Aug. 28.

England will take three spinners to the subcontinent in Shoaib Bashir, Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach, the latter two having been overlooked for this summer's test series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Josh Hull, the 20-year-old left-armer who made his debut in the third test against Sri Lanka and is seen as the future of England's pace attack, was one of seven seamers in the squad. Among them is Chris Woakes, who was selected for an overseas test series for the first time since 2022.

The venues for the three-match series are yet to be confirmed. The England and Wales Cricket Board said an announcement is expected from the Pakistan Cricket Board this week.

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England: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket