{"id":741091,"date":"2026-08-17T19:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741091\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T19:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:10:11","slug":"jordan-cox-embraces-test-clarity-but-with-it-comes-unfamiliar-role-for-england-england-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741091\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan Cox embraces Test \u2018clarity\u2019 but with it comes unfamiliar role for England | England cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a complicated start to Jordan Cox\u2019s England career. There have been a handful of white-ball appearances and a Test debut that was taken away from him two years ago when he broke a thumb in the buildup. The cap eventually arrived this summer, though only at No 7 as a specialist batter, filling in when Ben Stokes was suspended against New Zealand at the Oval.<\/p>\n

Now comes another unfamiliar role, starting on Wednesday in the three-match series against Pakistan \u2013 but Cox is grateful for the straightforward message provided by the England selector Marcus North. He will bat at first drop in the first two Tests in the absence of the injured Jacob Bethell. \u201cNorthy didn\u2019t have to go: \u2018You\u2019re batting at three in these two Test matches\u2019, but he did. This is 100% \u2013 unless I get injured,\u201d Cox said. \u201cClarity\u2019s one of the best things in sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox has been told by North to \u201cdo what you\u2019ve been doing, don\u2019t change the way you\u2019ve been playing in county cricket, go have fun and embrace the challenge\u201d. He added: \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever batted three before but I\u2019ve opened for probably two years in county cricket for Kent. So look, it will be fun, I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He can probably be forgiven for forgetting his only first-class match at No 3, back in 2019 as an 18-year-old against Nottinghamshire, when he was dismissed twice by Ravichandran Ashwin. Cox has sparkled for Essex as a thumping presence at No 4, from where he struck a 201-ball 204 against Leicestershire in June.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideCharlie Dean to captain England for Ireland ODI seriesShow<\/p>\n

Charlie Dean will captain England in next month\u2019s three one-day internationals against Ireland in the absence of Nat Sciver-Brunt.<\/p>\n

Dean stood in for Sciver-Brunt during white-ball series against New Zealand and India this summer then again when the all-rounder was injured during the group stage of the T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Sciver-Brunt is continuing to manage her fitness and recovery, as is Danni Wyatt-Hodge, so they will miss the Ireland series, alongside fellow senior players Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Bell and Amy Jones.<\/p>\n

England squad to face Ireland: C Dean (captain), M Bouchier, A Capsey, K Chathli, T Corteen-Coleman, S Dunkley, L Filer, D Gibson, J Grewcock, F Kemp, R MacDonald-Gay, C Pavely, G Potts, M Villiers, I Wong.<\/p>\n

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The challenge for the right-hander is significant, particularly if he\u2019s called upon early to take on a new-ball master in Mohammad Abbas. He has at least had the last few days off to prepare after his Hundred campaign at Welsh Fire ended with a group-stage exit.<\/p>\n

Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson \u2013 winners in Sunday\u2019s final<\/a> between Trent Rockets and Manchester Super Giants \u2013 were absent from England\u2019s rain-interrupted training session on Monday at Headingley. They will feature in Tuesday\u2019s practice, with a 16-man squad stacked with seam options if the pair have any issues. Brydon Carse, who played for Sunrisers Leeds in Friday\u2019s Eliminator at the Oval, was among those bowling as he aims to play his first Test since the Ashes.<\/p>\n

Pakistan, meanwhile, are still to make a call on whether Babar Azam, their captain and star batter, will be fit to play the first Test. Babar suffered a blow to his right hand while batting in a warm-up fixture last week at Beckenham, forcing him to retire hurt.<\/p>\n

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Abbas said a decision on Babar\u2019s participation will be taken on the day of the match. \u201cHopefully he will be fine,\u201d said Abbas. \u201cThe medical team is looking at him. He played some balls [at training], a few throw-downs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pakistan seamer sounded more hopeful about the prospect of Shan Masood featuring. Their former captain broke a finger in the first Test against West Indies last month and offers valuable experience in these conditions, having scored a ton<\/a> on Pakistan\u2019s last Test tour of England six years ago and made County Championship hundreds for Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a complicated start to Jordan Cox\u2019s England career. There have been a handful of white-ball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-741091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}