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Saqib Mahmood added to England squad for second Test against India as cover for Dom Bess
Saqib Mahmood has been added to England's squad for the second Test against India at Lord's as a back-up. Off-spinner Dom Bess is set to leave for Yorkshire.
Right-arm seamer Saqib Mahmood was added to the England Test squad as a cover after off-spinner Dom Bess, who is set to leave the bubble and return to Yorkshire ahead of the second Test match against India at Lord’s, announced the England and Wales Cricket Board on Wednesday. The second Test will begin from Thursday.
“Lancashire seamer Saqib Mahmood has been added to the squad as cover for the LV= Insurance second Test against India.
Spinner Dom Bess will leave the squad and return to Yorkshire this morning,” ECB said.
Mahmood, who is yet to make his Test debut, has been very impressive in his short white-ball career so far. The right-arm seamer, who was one of the main reasons behind a second-string England side blanking Pakistan 3-0, has picked up 14 wickets in 7 ODIs.
This announcement comes a day after all-rounder Moeen Ali made a comeback to the England Test side.
The 34-year-old all-rounder has played only one Test match in the last two years, against India in Chennai almost six months ago, but will link up with the team at Lord's.
England were outplayed for large periods of the drawn opener at Trent Bridge last week and are looking to rebalance the side in the continued absence of all-rounders Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes.
"Worcestershire spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali has been added to the England Men's Test squad," the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement.
"He will join the Test party later today and will train this afternoon with the England squad."
"We'll look at conditions and weigh things up but he's in a great position to play," said England captain Joe Root.
"That's why he's been called up to the squad, for his capability with both bat and ball. Albeit in a short format he's in great form at the minute, playing with great confidence, and we all know what he's capable of in the Test arena. He's scored big hundreds and won the games with the ball as well and he's a fine cricketer.
"If he gets an opportunity he'll be desperate to impress and show everyone how good he is in Test cricket as well as white-ball cricket."
