Mark Stoneman to make England debut against West Indies

England Test captain Joe Root has announced opening batsman Mark Stoneman will make his debut against West Indies at Edgbaston.

Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes and 20-year-old leg break bowler Mason Crane, both named in a 13-man squad, are left out for the first pink ball day-night Test.

Pace bowler Toby Roland-Jones keeps his place in Root's side with Surrey opener Stoneman becoming the latest choice to partner Alastair Cook at the top of the innings.

Root told Sky Sports HQ: "Chris Woakes and Mason Crane are the two guys who will miss out. I think it's a great opportunity for the rest of the guys to experience a pink ball Test match for the first time and we're really excited."

Root admitted that Woakes will feel unfortunate to miss out playing for England at his home ground, but stressed that the 28-year-old needs more recovery time.

"He (Woakes) will have definitely wanted to play here but with the lack of game time he's had, it felt like another week of loading up on overs making sure he's absolutely ready coming back from a serious injury is important.

"That's where we're at at the minute and I think Toby (Roland-Jones) deserves his opportunity."

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Stoneman is the 12th new opening partner England have picked alongside Alastair Cook since the retirement of Andrew Strauss five years ago. At 30, he is curiously long in the tooth for a debutant too.

"He's obviously got a huge amount of runs under this belt, this season in particular, and in previous seasons as well. He's got a well-rounded game, he's a bit more experienced having played a lot of county cricket and I'm excited to see him hopefully take his opportunity," Root said.

When asked how long Cook's latest partner will be given in England colours, Root added: "Who knows. Ideally you want someone to come in and set the world alight and their career move forward from there.

"I'd like to think he would get a very good opportunity and some good game time with England."

England face Australia this winter Down Under as they contest the latest edition of the Ashes, and Root knows how important it is to successfully fill the troublesome opening slot before that series begins.

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"Of course you want it to be settled. You never want to go into any series with the guys out of form or under pressure but that's one of the challenges of Test cricket and generally as a side we've responded quite well to that in the past," he said.

"This is a great opportunity for him (Stoneman) to go out and show everyone how good a player he is."

The first day-night Test in England is a venture into the unknown. Home preparation has amounted to a round of mid-summer Specsavers County Championship matches under lights, in which meaningful participation through Root's squad was sporadic for a variety of reasons, including injury and bad weather.

Playing with a pink ball, a later start time and under lights is something the 26-year-old hopes England take in their stride.

"It's been good. There are obviously different challenges it brings, different times of the day to what you would normally expect with Test cricket," Root said.

"It's ultimately still the same fundamentals of cricket and you just need to make sure when those difficult periods crop up we respond well and we respond quickly.

"It's great that we're giving it the opportunity to work here and it will make for a very exciting spectacle. It will be interesting to see how the week pans out."

PA