England shuffled its bowling attack for the first Ashes test in Cardiff, recalling uncapped legspinner Adil Rashid and paceman Steven Finn in a 13-man squad announced on Wednesday. Rashid was an unused member of the squad in the recent three-test series in the West Indies, and wasn’t called up for the two-test series against New Zealand in May. He wasn’t even included in a 14-man group that took part in a pre-Ashes training camp in Spain from Saturday to Tuesday.
However, new England coach Trevor Bayliss was impressed by Rashid’s performances in the one-day international series against the Black Caps, and wants an extra spinner as backup for allrounder Moeen Ali. Rashid has been in better wicket-taking form than Ali at domestic level this season. Of the players who traveled to Spain, Mark Footitt and liam Plunkett missed out as Finn was preferred. Bayliss suggested Finn wouldn’t break into the team unless there was an injury.
Squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Adam lyth, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.