India to tour New Zealand in January 2019, England announce playing XI for first Test and more - Cricket News Today, 31st July 2018

The impending Test series between England and India which is scheduled to begin tomorrow (1st August) at Edgbaston has been hogging most of the limelight in the cricketing world. The hosts have announced their playing XI for the match as well.

The ticket sales, however, haven't been as expected with attendances expected to be poor for the Test series. New Zealand, meanwhile, have announced their home summer schedule with the India tour in January being the highlight.

There is news from the Caribbean Premier League as well, who have decided to undergo two significant changes. Without much ado, let's look into the most important of headlines in the cricket world today.

England announce playing XI for first Test

England have announced their playing XI for the first Test of the five-match series against India which starts tomorrow. This would be the hosts' 1000th Test match in their glorious history.

Adil Rashid, who had signed a white-ball only contract with Yorkshire in February and hasn't played a Test match in almost two years, has been named in the side as the only spinner while Moeen Ali misses out.

Ben Stokes makes the playing XI as well but is due to miss the second Test at Lord's as his trial over Bristol nightclub incident begins on Monday (6th August), a day after the first match is scheduled to get over.

Joe Root will continue to captain the side while Jos Buttler, who has been in the best form of his life recently, will be the vice-captain. Both James Anderson and Stuart Broad will play the first Test, however, there were suggestions made by the latter that the two might be rotated later in the series to balance the workload.

England XI for first Test: Joe Root (capt), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.