England drop batter Lawrence for Pakistan tour

England have dropped batter Dan Lawrence for the tour of Pakistan and included uncapped pair Jordan Cox and Brydon Carse in a 17-man squad.

Captain Ben Stokes returns for the three Tests in October after missing the 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka with a hamstring injury.

Opener Zak Crawley is also back after missing the same series with a broken finger.

In Crawley’s absence, long-term batting reserve Lawrence was given the opportunity to open, rather than his usual position in the middle order.

But in six innings his highest score was 35 and that came in a skittish, almost slogging, effort in the second innings of the final Test, which England lost on Monday.

Essex’s Cox, 23, was an unused member of the squad for the Sri Lanka series and provides cover for England with the bat and behind the stumps. He will make his T20 international debut against Australia in Southampton on Tuesday.

Durham pace bowler Carse, 29, has already played 14 one-day internationals and three T20s.

He possesses genuine pace and holds a central contract but has missed three months of this season after being banned for historic gambling offences.

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England squad for Test series against Pakistan: Ben Stokes (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Bryson Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

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Jack Leach, who lost his place to Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir as England’s first-choice spinner, is in the squad, alongside leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed. Left-armer Tom Hartley misses out despite playing all five Tests on the tour of India earlier this year.

In all, there are six frontline seamers chosen, including 20-year-old left-armer Josh Hull following his debut against Sri Lanka in the third Test at The Oval.

Chris Woakes will go on his first England Test tour since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took charge of England in 2022, alongside Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Matthew Potts, Carse and Hull.

Mark Wood is not included, having been ruled out for the rest of the year with an elbow injury.

The inflated number of seamers could be down to fitness doubts over Stokes and Atkinson, the latter struggling with a thigh problem.

There is also confusion over the venues, which were due to be Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan.

However, building work in Karachi is likely to leave that stadium unavailable, and a new schedule is due to be announced this week.

There has been speculation that part of the series could be shifted to the United Arab Emirates, but it is now thought the entire series will take place in Pakistan, possibly with two Tests in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan played both Tests of their 2-0 defeat by Bangladesh in Rawalpindi and did not pick a specialist spinner for the first Test, opting for four seamers.

England won 3-0 on their last visit to Pakistan in 2022, the first time a visiting team had recorded a 3-0 clean sweep in the country.