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England may turn to 'new faces' as Ashes loom

With seven home Tests and a World Cup ahead of the Ashes, England will look to manage their best players through the year

England may use next month's series against New Zealand to take a look at some "new faces" ahead of a busy nine months of Test cricket that will culminate in the Ashes in Australia.

Several of England's leading players were always expected to miss the two Tests against the Black Caps starting on June 2, which will help the Kiwis prepare for the World Test Championship final later in the month, due to a clash with the Indian Premier League.

But even though the IPL has now been called off, England say some of their three-format stars may still miss the series as they look to manage their workloads.

The two Tests against the Black Caps will be followed by five against India, which will roll into a two-month stint of white-ball cricket abroad, including the T20 World Cup, and then the Ashes in December and January.

Given England will need to take an extended squad to Australia due to quarantine requirements – they took a squad of 19 plus six reserves for the recent tour of India – the series against New Zealand looms as a chance for those on the fringe to make an impression.

"What we do know, and what's not going to change, is the weight of cricket," said Ashley Giles, England's director of cricket.

"Given the Ashes series, we don't know what conditions that's going to be played in at the moment with regard to a Covid environment, but we are going to need a bigger group of players still.

"We may also choose against New Zealand to look at some new faces.

"With the amount of other cricket we have to play, we almost want to get this tapering towards the Ashes. We have got to get that right.

"Is that against New Zealand? I don't know, that's something for us to continue to discuss."

Uncapped players who could come into consideration for the NZ series are wicketkeeper-batsman James Bracey and paceman Ollie Robinson (pictured above), who were both reserves on the recent India tour and have made strong starts to the County Championship season.

Even if England's IPL contingent are picked to face the Black Caps, there will be gaps in the Test side that need to be to fill; injured allrounder Ben Stokes has already been ruled out, Jofra Archer has only just returned to the Sussex second XI after a hand injury, while fast bowler Ollie Stone and opener Dom Sibley are currently sidelined.

Giles says a decision on what to do with Test players who have just returned from the IPL – Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Moeen Ali – will be made closer to the series starting.

"We're going to treat it on a case-by-case basis," Giles said.

"All these guys are currently in quarantine and have had a number of spells in quarantine and bubbles in this last period.

"We need to look after them, with the amount of cricket they've got coming up, we're not going to rush or force them back into cricket.

"(Coach) Chris Silverwood will work with each and every one of them, as will our medical teams, on what's best for their progress.

"On the matter of playing cricket, they are all different. We know historically that Chris Woakes, for example, likes to get more overs under his belt with the red ball before he's up to speed. Others react differently to that, so it's a case by case basis.

"We have got an awful lot of cricket coming up."

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