London: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday announced the men’s playing XI for the third and final Test of the June 25-29 home Test series against New Zealand in Nottingham.
The row saw England Test captain Ben Stokes and pacer Gus Atkinson miss the second match of the series against New Zealand after they allegedly broke a team curfew and got into an altercation with Saracens rugby player Todoa Auva following their 115-run series win earlier this month.
Stokes and Atkinson were later cleared by the ECB and an independent cricket regulator, citing insufficient evidence.
“No blame should be placed on players for violent behavior in nightclubs,” the ECB said in a statement on Sunday.
“Stokes was not involved in the altercation and was not a witness to either incident.
In another big change, the hosts left out right-arm pacer Ollie Robinson, who recorded a brilliant 7/77 in the series opener at Lord’s, marking his first appearance for the Three Lions in the longer format since 2024.
Although Robinson was named in England’s initial 15-man squad for the upcoming tournament after missing the second Test with a sore knee, he failed to make the final line-up, with Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue retaining their places in the home side’s pace attack.
England’s playing XI for the third Test against New Zealand
Ben Duckett, Emilio Kay, Jacob Bethel, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tangu and Shoaib Bashir.