Who is Josh Hull? 5 interesting facts about uncapped England seamer called up for Sri Lanka Tests
Josh Hull has received his maiden national call-up for the ongoing England vs Sri Lanka series in the ICC World Test Championship. Hull is a tall left-arm fast bowler, who has made a name for himself with his top-quality bowling performances for the Leicestershire CC in county cricket.
Express English pacer Mark Wood has been ruled out of the England vs Sri Lanka series owing to a thigh injury. The right-arm pacer could bowl only 10.2 overs in Sri Lanka's second innings of the recently concluded first Test. Since Wood got injured, England had to name a replacement for the remainder of the series, and they have picked Josh Hull.
Before Hull impresses the cricket world with his left-arm bowling, here's a list of five interesting things to know about the pace bowler.
#1 Josh Hull is just 20 years old
Hull is set to become one of the few players born after 2003 to play Test cricket. The left-arm fast bowler was born on August 20, 2004 in Cambridgeshire. The youngster celebrated his 20th birthday just a few days ago.
In June 2024, a 41-year-old James Anderson, who made his debut in 2003, was playing Test cricket for England. It will be quite interesting if a player born after 2003 now takes Anderson's place in the pace attack.
#2 Josh Hull has only played 9 first-class matches
The left-arm fast bowler made his first-class debut for Leicestershire in April 2023. He has played only nine first-class matches so far. Playing his debut game against Yorkshire, Hull scalped a wicket on the fourth ball itself, dismissing opposition skipper Adam Lyth LBW.
While Hull could not take another wicket in that innings, he returned with figures of 3/68 in the second innings, dismissing Dawid Malan, Shai Hope and Jordan Thompson. The youngster will be keen to pick up some big wickets on his Test debut now.
#3 Josh Hull dismissed 5 Sri Lankan batters earlier this month
Before the first Test against England, Sri Lanka played a three-day practice match against England Lions. Josh was a member of the Lions playing XI, and he returned with five wickets in two innings.
In the first innings, Josh got rid of veteran players Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, followed by the scalp of opposition skipper Dhananjaya de Silva. In the next innings, he rattled Prabath Jayasuriya and Kasun Rajitha's stumps. If England pick him in the playing XI for the next two games, he will have a proper idea of the opponents' strengths and weaknesses.
#4 Josh Hull helped Leicestershire win the One-Day Cup in 2023
Hull made his List-A debut last year, and in his first season itself, he helped his county Leicestershire become the champions. Captain Lewis Hill assigned Hull the responsibility to defend eight runs in the last over of the final against Hampshire.
Liam Dawson, a capped international player, was batting on 56, and the pressure was on the young Hull. However, the youngster kept his nerve and conceded only three runs off the first three balls. Dawson then tried for a big shot but ended up giving a catch to Chris Wright. Hampshire only managed two runs off the next two balls as Leicestershire won by two runs and became the One Day Cup champions.
#5 Hull completed his graduation in 2022
As mentioned earlier, Hull recently turned 20. The left-arm fast bowler was studying at a university just two years ago. He shared a picture from his graduation ceremony on February 20, 2023.
Hull can be seen enjoying the graduation with his friends in the above picture. He wrote in the caption that they all graduated in the batch of 2022.