Harry Brook has pulled out of the England Test squad for the tour of India due to personal reasons. Set to miss the start of the five-Test series, England have called up Dan Lawrence as his replacement.
The team was due to arrive in Hyderabad on Sunday, ahead of the start of the first Test on Thursday, but Brook will no longer be with the group that traveled home from the team’s training camp in the UAE.
The loss of Brook is a significant blow to England’s attempts to become the first team to win a Test series in India in more than a decade. Since his debut in the final Test of summer 2022, he has averaged 62.15, at a strike rate of 91.76, from 12 appearances, with four hundreds.
He was briefly promoted to No.3 during the Ashes after Ollie Pope suffered a series-ending shoulder injury, before Moeen Ali moved up as shortstop. Pope is set to return to India, meaning England will have to rethink their middle order.
Brook’s absence could see England deploy Jonny Bairstow as a specialist batsman again to fill the gap at No.5, with Ben Foakes having the wicket available.
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There are also a number of England Lions back-up options currently in India, notably Josh Bohannon, who impressed with a century in Ahmedabad earlier this week.
England will train at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday, having spent the last ten days in Abu Dhabi acclimatizing to the tour.
Lawrence, a stand-in batsman from the Test team last summer, only recently arrived in the UAE for the ILT20 after a stint in the Big Bash League, but will head to India in the next few days. Lawrence’s last Test appearance came in the March 2022 tour of the Caribbean, shortly before the dual appointments of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes as coach and captain helped revive the side.
