England announce 14-member squad for Test series against Sri Lanka

England has announced a 14-member squad for the upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

Regular opener Zak Crawley will miss the series due to a fractured right little finger, an injury he sustained during the third Test of the recently concluded series against the West Indies, which England won 3-0.

Additionally, seamer Dillon Pennington, who was part of the squad for the West Indies series, is also ruled out due to a hamstring injury he picked up while playing in The Hundred competition.

In their place, Jordan Cox and Olly Stone have been called up. Cox, a middle-order batter from Essex, was part of England's white-ball squad during their tour of Pakistan last year. This season, he has been the leading run-scorer for Essex in the County Championship, amassing 763 runs at an average of 69.36, including three centuries. Stone, a fast bowler from Nottinghamshire, is returning to the England lineup for the first time since 2021.

The first Test of the series begins on 21 August in Manchester and is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. Currently, Sri Lanka is placed fourth with a point percentage of 50, while England is sixth following their series whitewash against the West Indies.

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood