Josh Hull to make Test debut at The Oval

England have decided to blood in left-arm pacer Josh Hull, who has been named in the XI for the final Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval. The Leicestershire quick has been making rapid strides in the domestic circuit over the last 12 months and his call-up for the white-ball series against Australia across the two shorter formats is testimony to that. Hull will replace Matthew Potts in a rotational move after the latter's impressive showing in the first two Tests of the series.

While Potts only tallied five wickets across four innings, his ability to break key partnerships while also keeping a lid on the scoring rate has been pivotal to England's wins. Hull's addition adds more firepower to the attack that already has two enforcers in the form of Olly Stone and Gus Atkinson, thereby making it arguably England's most aggressive pace attack in terms of pace and intimidation. Chris Woakes continues to be the leader of pack with his immaculate accuracy.

Hull's inclusion also means a left-arm pacer in the XI - something England have lacked since Sam Curran's exclusion from the side. The fact that Hull also has a towering frame at 6'7 allows him to generate disconcerting bounce, a key ingredient that has made England's selectors to fast-track him despite the unimpressive stats from nine First-class games thus far. Stand-in skipper Ollie Pope echoed these sentiments and backed the team's latest debutant to play a defining role in the Test match.

England XI:Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith(wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Josh Hull, Shoaib Bashir