The possible inclusion of Archer isn’t the only change England are considering to their line-up for the Lord’s Test, with fellow fast bowler Gus Atkinson and back-up batter Jacob Bethell also in the running for the crucial contest at the Home of Cricket.
Bethell has only three Test appearances to his name with his most recent match coming against New Zealand at the end of last year, while Atkinson hasn’t played since he hurt his hamstring in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Nottingham in May.
While Bethell’s inclusion would provide England with another spin option, McCullum said he won’t take the place in the XI of first-choice spinner Shoaib Bashir.
“He’s a batting option,” McCullum said of Bethell. “He’s the next one in if something happens.
“He wants to keep improving his bowling so that he can obviously impact the game across both the bat and ball. It’s not something we’d look at from a tactical point of view to do.”
England squad for third Test: Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
