LONDON: England will be without Ben Stokes while India could make changes too for the second Test starting here at Lord’s on Thursday.

Stokes played a starring role in England’s 31-run win in the first Test of the five-match series at Edgbaston last week, including taking the wicket of India captain Virat Kohli, who had been anchoring the tourists’ run-chase.

But Stokes was omitted by England because he is in court this week on a criminal charge of affray.

Fellow pace-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes has been called up in his place to the England squad, with uncapped Surrey batsman Ollie Pope selected instead of Dawid Malan, dropped after a run of low scores.

But in a dry English summer that has seen pitches more receptive to slow bowling than usual, England could recall off-spinner Moeen Ali to partner leg-break bowler Adil Rashid even though England captain Joe Root bowls occasional off-breaks.

Ollie Pope to make debut for hosts today

According to Root, Pope, the 20-year-old rising Surrey star, would bat at number four but that England would delay a decision on whether to play Ali or Woakes instead of Stokes until the morning of the match, with the uncapped Jamie Porter released from the 13-man squad.

“Ollie Pope will bat at four,” said Root.

“We’ve got a 12. Jamie Porter is the unlucky one to miss out,” Root told a pre-match press conference at Lord’s on Wednesday. “With the surface as it is, having looked at it today, we’re going to leave it another 24 hours and then make a decision in the morning.

England have often been wary of picking young players but new national selector Ed Smith has overseen what Root termed some “bold decisions” since taking charge this season.

“Ollie will come in and bat at four. He’s obviously batted at six for Surrey this season -- but having seen him play a little bit, and the way his game is set up, I think it’s very much transferable to bat at number four in Test cricket.”

Root, who will be batting in the pivotal number three position, added: “I know that might be seen as quite a big jump. But he’s obviously an exciting talent and, with the guys around him, I think he fits nicely into that position in our team.”

Pope only made his first-class debut in March last year and has been called into the Test squad on the back of a mere 15 matches, while he has never batted in the top five in County Championship cricket.

Yet this season has seen Pope make 684 runs for Championship leaders Surrey at an average of 85.5, including three centuries. “He’s very mature for a young man,” said Root.

“If you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” said Root.

“These guys, Sam and Ollie, have come in because they have done some special things for Surrey in their recent past.”

India too could make a top-order change with the experienced Cheteshwar Pujara waiting in the wings if struggling opener Shikhar Dhawan is omitted.

They also have the option of playing a second-spinner, be it orthodox left-armer Ravindra Jadeja or left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya the man most likely to miss out if either slow bowler is selected.

“It’s a good choice, a tough one too,” Bharat Arun, India’s bowling coach, told reporters at Lord’s.

“We really need to look at any change in strategy, depending on the wicket.”

But Arun said Jasprit Bumrah was “out of contention”, the paceman still sidelined after missing the first Test with the broken thumb he suffered during a T20 International against Ireland in June.

As for India needing more runs from their batsmen, Arun said: “If you look at the [Edgbaston] scores, it’s only Virat Kohli and Joe Root who have been able to contend with the moving ball.

“The conditions were trying. The challenge is there for us to adapt even better and we have our plans in place.”

Teams (probable):

ENGLAND: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (captain), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow (wicket-keeper), Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

INDIA: Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Marais Erasmus (South Africa)

TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2018