Bairstow left out as England begin build towards Ashes | cricket.com.au

Wicketkeeper is one of three experienced players surprisingly left out of the England Test squad for their West Indies series

England have unveiled a radical shake-up of their Test side, axing Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Jack Leach, and calling up three uncapped players.

Wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith is joined by two new seamers, Gus Atkinson and Dillon Pennington, for the first two Tests of the forthcoming series against West Indies, while spinner Shoaib Bashir has been preferred to his Somerset teammate Leach in a changing of the guard.

In what appears to a watershed moment for the team, and the first stage of Bazball 2.0, head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes have carried out major surgery on their squad.

England Test squad for first two Tests v West Indies: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson (first Test only), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes

Having already decided to call time on the illustrious career of record wicket-taker James Anderson after the first Test at Lord’s, a hard call taken with one eye trained firmly on rebuilding the team for the 2025-26 Ashes, they have now gone even further.

Bairstow is the most high-profile casualty, dropped on exactly 100 caps, with the highly-rated Smith beating off a crowded field to take the keeper’s spot.

Smith, who made his ODI bow against Ireland last September, has long been one of the most exciting prospects in the domestic game but his selection behind the stumps will attract scrutiny given he is not even the first-choice gloveman for his county.

With Stuart Broad retiring at the end of last summer and Anderson following close behind, they need to fill the gap left by two bowling greats who boast a combined 1304 Test wickets.

“The first Test of the summer is always a special moment, but it will be extra poignant with it being Jimmy’s last Test before he retires,” managing director for England men’s cricket, Rob Key, said in a statement.

“He has given everything to the sport since his Test debut in 2003. We all would like to wish him well as he walks out at Lord’s for the last time for England.

“We are looking forward to getting the season underway against a strong West Indies side in what will be an excellent Test series.”

Chris Woakes, returning for the first time since being named player of the series in last summer’s Ashes, will take on the mantle of leader of the attack in the short term, but the real interest is in the fresher faces.

England go back to Durham’s Matthew Potts, a gutsy seamer who made a strong start to his England career in 2022 and has 23 wickets at 29.26 in his six caps. Atkinson, who impressed with his pace last year and was an unused squad member in India, steps up as does Nottinghamshire’s Pennington. 

The decision to back 20-year-old off-spinner Bashir over Leach is perhaps surprising. Stokes has shown great loyalty to the left-armer, but it was his injury that allowed Bashir to earn a fast-track debut in India. He took 17 wickets in three Tests, including five-wicket hauls in Ranchi and Dharamsala.