England on Monday included all-rounder Jamie Overton in squad for final Test vs India. Overton who has played only one Test match in his career back in 2022, was recalled to the 15-member England squad for the fifth and final Test against India starting Thursday at the Oval.
The 31-year-old Surrey all-rounder, who played three games for Chennai Super Kings in the last edition of IPL, had taken two wickets and scored 97 against New Zealand at Leeds back in 2022. Save the addition of Overton, the 14, who were selected in the previous game, have all been retained.
Last month India spinner R Ashwin had recalled an incident in county cricket where Overton had a shoe spike as long as his index finger. The reasoning for the spike of that length Ashwin would reveal that it helped create roughness for the spinners later in the game, and can exploit the turn.
We’ve made one addition to our squad for the 5th Rothesay Test, which starts at the Kia Oval on Thursday.
See the squad 👇
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 28, 2025
“During my county cricket days, I remember checking out the spikes in Jamie Overton’s shoes. One of his shoes had 15 spikes. One of the nails was this long (shows his index fingers), and when asked the reason, he said that these shoes were used to create the rough in the second innings. We don’t even have the concept of such shoes in our country,” Ashwin had said on his YouTube Channel.
Meanwhile, the fourth Test between England and India ended in a stalemate after centuries from skipper Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar saw India dominate the final day’s play at Old Trafford where drama unfolded in the last hour when England captain Stokes and Co. wanted to call off the match, only to be refused by the visitors who were well within their rights to continue batting.
Stokes also hinted at his participation in the fifth and final Test against India at Oval despite carrying an injury, saying “pain is just an emotion” but acknowledged the need to rejig their tired bowling attack.
Stokes, who grimaced throughout while bowling 11 overs on Sunday, said he had been suffering from pain in his right bicep tendon.
England Test Squad: Ben Stokes (Captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
