England Test squad for New Zealand: Sonny Baker, Emilio Gay, James Rew selected for Lord's opener, big names dropped

Sonny Baker, Emilio Gay and James Rew have all been selected in England's squad for the first Test match against New Zealand, which starts on June 4.

After a 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia, changes were always going to be made, partly due to the appointment of Australian Marcus North as the new national selector.

Long-standing opener Zak Crawley has been dropped from the squad, as has Ollie Pope who lost his place during the Ashes embarrassment.

That has opened the door for the likes of Baker, Gay and Rew to come into contention for a first appearance in the Test arena.

Gay is in line to open the batting after hitting scores of 128, 159* and 129 among his last eight innings for Durham.

Emilio Gay has his THIRD hundred of the season pic.twitter.com/CLBlyrKrUO

— No Context County Cricket (@NoContextCounty) May 3, 2026

Hampshire fast-bowler Baker has been expensive in his solitary one-day and T20 international appearances without taking a wicket.

However, time with England Lions and 14 wickets across four first-class matches in 2026 have paved the way for his inclusion.

Wicket-keeper Rew may miss out on an immediate debut, but the 22-year-old already has 12 centuries and an average of 41.48 from 104 innings in first-class cricket.

Robinson returns to England squad

There is also the recall of Ollie Robinson after a two-year absence. Despite 76 wickets and an average of 22.92 in Tests, back issues cost him his place in 2024.

Reham Ahmed and Shoain Bashir are the two spin bowlers in the squad, while Matthew Fisher returns bidding to add to his solitary Test appearance from March 2022.

England squad in full:

Ben Stokes, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue