England have named Gary Ballance and Toby Roland-Jones in their 12-man squad for the first test against Pakistan which starts at Lord's on the 14th of July.
Ballance recalled for the first Test
Ballance has been recalled to the side after Nick Compton decided to take some time away from cricket. The Yorkshire batsmen is expected to come straight into the side somewhere in the middle order and will be looking to impress after failing at his first attempt with the team.
Compton being out of the squad now leaves the number three spot open and it has been suggested that Joe Root, who has batted at number four for a long time, is expected to move up and play at number three for the upcoming series.
Roland-Jones receives maiden call-up
Roland-Jones has been named in the test squad for the first time - replacing the injured James Anderson after he suffered a fracture to his right shoulder blade and hasn't recovered in time for the first Test.
The Middlesex pace bowler will be up against Jake Ball for a place in the starting XI, with the Nottinghamshire fast bowler once again named in the Test squad after being there for the entirity of the Sri Lanka series without making the final team.
Stokes, Buttler and Borthwick overlooked
Players such as Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick have not been selected in the squad after some people had been suggesting that they could be.
Stokes, who has been recovering from knee surgery, was in contention to play in the first Test as a specialist batsman, but has surprisingly not been selected in the squad.
Buttler was another one who has been pushing to come back in the Test arena but he has been overlooked. If he keeps performing in the other forms of the game he will be back in soon.
Borthwick was in contention to be selected after impressing for Durham so far this summer but it is Ballance who has gotten the nod over all of these players.
England squad for the first Test against Pakistan: Cook (c), Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow (wk), Moeen, Woakes, Broad, Finn, Ball, Roland-Jones.