Josh Hull of England bowls during a nets session at The Kia Oval on September 04, 2024 in London, England.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

England will give rookie seamer Josh Hull his first taste of international cricket after including him in the team for the final test of the summer.

Chasing a rare clean sweep of six wins in a row, England has thrown the left-armer in to face Sri Lanka at The Oval in place of Matthew Potts.

The 20-year-old Hull has taken only 16 first-class wickets in 10 matches. But England has made a habit of gambling on young talent since head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes took charge.

“It’s a great week for him to come in, learn a little bit and show off exactly what he can do,” said Ollie Pope, who this week completes a three-game run as stand-in skipper for the injured Stokes.

“Why not get him in? This is a great opportunity for him, you can show exactly what you can do in the international stage.”

England has already clinched the three-match series against Sri Lanka 2-0 after wins in Manchester and at Lord’s.

That backed up a 3-0 victory over the West Indies in July and England is now just one victory away from completing a clean sweep of home test series in a summer for the first time since 2004.

The quest for that victory starts Friday.

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

Uncapped English fast bowler Josh Hull will replace Mark Wood in the remaining two Test matches of the series against Sri Lanka after the 34-year-old suffered a right thigh muscle strain while bowling in the second innings of the Manchester Test, according to the ICC. Hull is a left-arm seamer, who recently featured in the England Lions fixture against Sri Lanka, and picked up five wickets at an average of 14.8. Wood had an exceptional start to his spell in the second inning, getting the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne off his first ball, but pulled out of his run-up in the 56th over, and left the field.

He didn’t bowl again in the game, which England eventually won by five wickets.

Recapping the first match of the series, SL won the toss and opted to bat first. Struggling at 113/7, it was knocks from skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (74 in 84 balls, with eight fours) and Milan Rathnayake (72 in 135 balls, with six fours and two sixes) that pushed SL to 236/10.

Chris Woakes (3/32) and Shoaib Bashir (3/55) were the top bowlers for England.

Despite a poor start and a tricky score of 67/3, fine performances from middle-order batters Joe Root (42 in 57 balls with four boundaries), Harry Brook (56 in 73 balls with four boundaries), and centurion Jamie Smith (111 in 148 balls, with eight fours and a six) helped England attain a lead of 122 runs as they were bundled out for 358 runs.

Ashitha Fernando (4/103) and Prabhat Jayasuriya (3/85) delivered fine spells for Sri Lanka.

In their second innings, SL once again found themselves in a troublesome position, with the score reading 95/4. However, veterans Angelo Matthews (65 in 145 balls, with two fours and a six), and Dinesh Chandimal (79 in 119 balls, with seven fours) formed a 78-run partnership to push SL towards a lead. Later, keeping his fine form, Kamindu Mendis slammed his second Test ton in five innings, scoring 113 in 183 balls, with 15 fours and a six. SL put up a total of 326/10, giving them a respectable lead of 204 runs.

Woakes and Matthew Potts (3/47) took three wickets each to lead England’s bowling charts.

In reply, England was in a tight position at 70/3. However, Root’s calm and composed half-century (62* in 128 balls with two fours) and solid contributions from Brook (32 in 68 balls, with three fours) and Smith (39* in 48 balls, with four boundaries and a six) took England to a five-wicket win.

England took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

England squad: Ollie Pope (C), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.