Potts back in Ashes contention after T20 release

After leaving the T20s squad in Ireland to play in the County Championship, pace bowler Matthew Potts may return for England’s Ashes tour.

Ben Duckett, the opener against South Africa, and Sam Curran, the all-rounder, have been called back for the first time under head coach Brendon McCullum, making the other three changes to England’s white-ball squad.

In Hamilton in December, Potts, 26, won his final game of his ten starts against New Zealand.

Potts dropped to the left of Jamie Overton, who played in India’s final test in July.

Overton, however, decided to withdraw from red-ball cricket on Monday, opting to miss the Ashes series this winter.

There is one pace bowling slot in an England squad that will be announced at the end of this month because Chris Woakes is trying to recover from a dislocated shoulder and possibly unlikely to travel to Australia anyway given his previous struggles there.

Potts has been exempt from the party for the three T20s against Ireland in Dublin, starting on September 17th, so he won’t play for South Africa in ODIs or T20s.

Given that he is now back in contention for the Ashes, England felt he would be better served if Durham offered him the opportunity to play in Durham’s final three games of the County Championship season.

The Ashes squad’s members are likely to be the quicks, with Potts and Jofra Archer taking the sixth spot.

In the second one-day international at Lord’s on Thursday, Opener Duckett looked visibly jaded in the defeat by South Africa.

The 30-year-old left the grueling five Tests against India, progressing straight to the series against the Proteas, and then The Hundred.

He was far from his best at Lord’s, taking 33 balls over a sloppy 14 with little help. Duckett will take a break before playing in the final ODI against England in Southampton on Sunday, despite the series’ already 2-0 defeat.

In preparation for the Ashes opener in Perth on November 21 and the white ball series in October in New Zealand, he is most likely to be included in the squad.

Curran has a chance to impress McCullum because of his excellent form in The Hundred.

The 27-year-old, who was once a regular for England white ball, hasn’t played since McCullum took over the limited-overs teams at the start of the year.

Curran joins the South African T20 squad immediately, and he will continue to do so in Ireland.

He gives England a seam-bowling all-round option that they were utterly unable to get to at Lord’s on Thursday because he last played for England in the West Indies ten months ago.