HomeNewsDebutant Westley to replace Ballance in third Test against South Africa
Debutant Tom Westley to replace Gary Ballance in third Test against South Africa
Tom Westley has been a consistent scorer at the County Level for Essex and has scored 478 runs in the Championship this season, including two centuries, at an average of 53.11.
Tom Westley and Dawid Malan have been included in the 13-man squad for the third Test between England and South Africa, which is going to start from July 27 at The Kia Oval. Westley, who has been a consistent scorer at the County Level for Essex, has scored 478 runs in the Championship this season, including two centuries, at an average of 53.11. Last month against South Africa, he also scored an unbeaten 106 for England Lions in a tour match against a bowling attack that comprised of Morne Morkel, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada.
With Gary Ballance out due to injury, Westley is all set to debut for England in the third Test with the selectors confirming he will bat at number three in the 100th Test at the Oval.
In an interview to The Independent, Westley said: “I’m desperate to play for England, it would be an absolute honour. I’ve felt good the last few years at Essex. My first-class record has been very good. I’ve scored runs for the Lions and scored runs against the touring first-class teams – I’ve been in a good space for a number of years. So if there’s ever a time to play it would be now.”
The 28-year-old said facing quality international bowling attacks brings the best out of him – Westley has scored centuries against Sri Lanka last year and against Australia in 2015 – and gives him the confidence that he can play at the Test level.
“I’d like to think facing international attacks brings the best out of me. Getting the hundred against Australia and backing it up against Sri Lanka and then South Africa, I’d like to think it’s not just a fluke. Whether I raise my game or whether my game is just suited to that I don’t know until I’m exposed to it at Test level. But I can just take a lot of confidence from the fact I’ve scored those runs against some good bowlers and good attacks. It puts me in quite a good place.”
England squad:
Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Liam Dawson, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Toby Roland-Jones, Ben Stokes, Tom Westley, Mark Wood
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.