Jacob Bethell: England ask debutant to bat third in baptism of fire against New Zealand

England have thrown Jacob Bethell in at the deep end after asking the 21-year-old to bat at number three on his Test debut against New Zealand this week.

The tourists were forced into an 11th-hour rethink after wicketkeeper Jordan Cox was ruled out of the series with a broken thumb and have responded with a typically bold gambit, handing the gloves to Ollie Pope and a key role to the untried Warwickshire player.

Bethell has just picked up a £250,000 Indian Premier League (IPL) deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore but has played just 20 first-class matches with a modest average of just 25.44 and has never scored a professional century.

He has also never batted at number three in red-ball cricket, a pivotal position he will now occupy against the in-form Black Caps in Christchurch in the first Test, which begins at 10pm GMT on Wednesday night.

The Barbados-born left-hander made his first international appearance in September and has already won 15 caps in limited-overs cricket, enjoying a couple of thrilling cameos along the way and earning a place on the recent tour of the West Indies.

It was thought he would have to wait for his first taste of Test cricket but Cox's injury forced England's hand.

They might easily have slotted the newcomer into the middle order but, after allowing Pope to move down to number six after stepping up behind the stumps, they opted to catapult Bethell up the order rather than promote Joe Root or Ben Stokes.

Root, who will win his 150th cap at Hagley Oval, remains in his preferred position at four and Stokes drops down to number seven.

Stokes will back up a three-pronged pace attack of Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson, with Shoaib Bashir retained as first-choice spinner.