England call up 6ft 7in Hull after injured Wood ruled out of Sri Lanka series

England’s selectors continue to be bold and adventurous. With Mark Wood ruled out of the remainder of the Sri Lanka series with a thigh injury, they have turned to the tall Leicestershire fast bowler Josh Hull to bolster the squad for the second and third Tests, the first of which starts at Lord’s on Thursday.
Hull is 20 years old and has played only nine first-class matches but caught the eye in his performances for his county in their Metro Bank One-Day Cup win last summer and perhaps most importantly playing for the Lions in the Sri Lankans’ one warm-up match at Worcester.
There he returned match figures of five for 74 and claimed the big wickets of Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva for a combined total of 25 runs in the first innings.
As a left-armer, Hull, who stands 6ft 7in, offers a key point of difference which England Test attacks have lacked in recent years. But the fact is that, aside from the Lions game, he has taken ten wickets in eight matches at an average of 79.7. His speeds are typically around 85mph.
Whether Hull makes the starting XI is another matter. Olly Stone was in the squad for the first Test and offers similar top-end pace to Wood. Both Hull and Stone have been involved in championship matches over the weekend.
Shoaib Bashir, England’s first-choice spinner, was picked for a debut last winter after featuring in only six first-class games, and two years ago Rehan Ahmed was chosen after only three appearances. The England squad will assemble in London on Monday night. England won the series opener in Manchester by five wickets.
Test squad: Ollie Pope (captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.