Michael Pepper could form tasty opening partnership with Phil Salt in England's ODIs against West Indies after replacing Jos Buttler (calf) in squad; Pepper one of four uncapped players on the tour, alongside leg-spinner Jafer Chohan, all-rounder Dan Mousley and fast bowler John Turner
Thursday 31 October 2024 10:13, UK
The moment cricket fans have been salivating over might be about to happen: Salt and Pepper in the same England team.
With white-ball skipper Jos Buttler out of the ODI series against West Indies due to a setback in his recovery from a calf injury - he hopes to return for the T20s that follow - England have drafted in uncapped Essex wicketkeeper-batter Michael Pepper.
That presents the chance of a spicy opening partnership with Phil Salt in the Caribbean over the next week - a headline writer's dream.
Pepper has played only seven 50-over matches in his career, most recently in 2023, but struck two hundreds batting at No 3 for Essex in this season's Vitality Blast - a 53-ball 120 not out against Sussex and 101 from 44 deliveries against Middlesex.
The right-hander was the third-highest scorer in the competition and smashed a tournament-leading 32 sixes.
The other player involved in the squad for the first time is Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafer Chohan, the first graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy to be picked by England.
The 22-year-old is yet to play a 50-over game but, like Pepper, has impressed in the T20 format, bagging 22 wickets in 23 games, including 17 in 10 outings in 2024 with a best of 5-14 vs Durham.
Chohan has enjoyed some ascent since failing to land a contract at boyhood county Middlesex in 2022, earning a deal with Yorkshire the following year after dismissing Joe Root and Ben Duckett in an England net session, with an impressed Root championing the bowler to the Headingley county.
"My skillset is a very unique one and a bit different to what England has had before," said the Londoner, who has a long run-up based on that of former Pakistan spinner Shahid Afridi. "I feel very confident in my game and I like to express myself as a person with how I bowl."
There are four uncapped players all told in the England party, with Pepper and Chohan joined by Hampshire fast bowler John Turner and Warwickshire all-rounder Dan Mousley.
Both have been involved in squads before, including at home to Australia this summer, without making the XI.
South Africa-born Turner, who qualifies for England through his Zambian mother's English parents, also toured the Caribbean last December.
His former coach, ex-Durham and South Africa cricketer Dale Benkenstein, has likened Turner's action to Australia great Glenn McGrath but England really like the 90mph-plus pace he offers.
Turner averages below 20 with the ball in all three formats he has played (first class, List A, T20/The Hundred), bagging 15 wickets in 10 games for Hampshire in the Blast this term and then five for Trent Rockets in The Hundred. He also took four-wicket hauls in both One Day Cup games he played for Hampshire, shredding top orders.
Mousley is primarily a batter, although he averaged just 7.57 for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred this season. The left-hander's troubles included three successive ducks, with Rockets quick Turner inflicting the third of those when he nicked off Mousley first ball.
However, Mousley did star with his off-spin during The Hundred, most famously in the reverse fixture against Rockets.
Rockets required 10 runs from as many balls to win at Trent Bridge but came up short as Mousley took three wickets and conceded only three runs in the final set of the game, dismissing Lewis Gregory, Rashid Khan and Jordan Thompson as he fired in yorker after yorker.
He bagged 15 wickets for Birmingham Bears in the Blast, too, a competition in which he also fired with the bat, amassing 385 runs, including three fifties.
Shimron Hetmyer has been recalled to a 15-player West Indies squad for the ODI series against England.
The big-hitting left-hander replaces Alick Athanaze in the only change from the group that lost their last series 2-1 in Sri Lanka.
Hetmyer had been dropped after three modest showings during England's last tour at the back end of last year as his run without an ODI fifty stretched to a dozen innings.
The Windies beat England in both ODI and T20 series last year. England's last series triumph in the Caribbean in any format was a 3-0 T20 win in March 2019.
Windies head coach Daren Sammy said: "With our sights set on qualifying for the World Cup in 2027, we've selected a balanced squad that will no doubt push and compete with one of the best teams in the world.
"Playing against England always provides a new challenge and reignites a rivalry that the players and the people of the Caribbean are eager for."
Sammy added: "This rivalry goes back for decades, and after defeating them last year at home for the first time in a long time in an ODI series, we're ready to face the challenge of a strong England squad again.
"Somehow, we West Indies always find a way to raise our game when we face England."
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