The England Cricket Board has announced their squad for their upcoming one-off Test against Zimbabwe later this month (May 22 - May 25), which will mark the beginning of summer for England.

The match against Zimbabwe will be a perfect stage for the England cricket team to mend their dilapidated bowling lineup affected by multiple injury crises. Their number 1 pacer, Chris Wokes, is yet to recover from his injury, which made Gus Atkinson an automatic choice to deliver the new ball.

Captain Ben Stokes, named in the squad, will play his first match after recovering from a hamstring injury. The inclusion of Sam Cook and Jordan Cox has made the English squad more attractive.

Read More: Was MI vs RR match fixed? Here’s the full truth behind Rohit Sharma’s LBW controversy

A prolific wicket-taker and a run machine into the squad 

Sam Cook, the Essex pacer, had a dream run in county cricket with a truckload of wickets. He claimed 318 first-class wickets with an impressive average of 19.77. Previously, the 27-year-old bowler clearly said playing Test for England is his number 1 choice. He had multiple lucrative offers from different franchise clubs, but he chose to stick with his aim, which is playing for England. He even decided to play for England Lions against Australia in January 2025 rather than joining any franchise for money, where he took 13 scalps in 3 matches. The inclusion of Cook in the squad showed how the ECB closely monitors their players. 

On the other hand, the inclusion of Jordan Cox bolsters the England Test side's batting depth and strength. The wicketkeeper-batter has been among the top run-scorers at the County Championship this season. He bagged 918 runs from 11 matches, including four centuries and two half-centuries.

England squad for one-off Test against Zimbabwe

Ben Stokes (captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue.