NZ vs ENG | Bethell set to become new no. 3 as England name playing XI for New Zealand series

In the absence of Jamie Smith, on paternity leave, Jordan Cox was set to make his debut for England. However, the latter injured his finger, making way for Bethell to fill the void in the middle order. While Joe Root will be retaining the number fourth spot, Bethell has been pushed to fill an important position after an impressive outing against West Indies in the white ball series where he smashed three half-centuries. 

"He's full of confidence, he's got great ability and a really well rounded game. He's a mature head on young shoulders and I think he has all the components to set him up nicely to be successful in this format and at this level. I'm sure he'll enjoy every aspect of the week, I'm really looking forward to watching him do his stuff,” said Root on Bethell.

"If you look at the way he sets up I think it suits that (batting at three), especially here with the little bit of extra bounce and carry. He plays very well square of the wicket and if he gets in on a wicket like that he could be very destructive. It's a really exciting opportunity and prospect for us to see a young player coming in hopefully doing something really special at the start of his career,” Root further added. 

Bethell’s impressive performance also fetched him his maiden IPL contract with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at INR 2.60 Crore. 

England have faint hopes of making it to the World Test Championship finals, provided a lot of permutations and combinations required.

England XI for the first Test: ⁠Zak Crawley, ⁠Ben Duckett, ⁠Jacob Bethell, ⁠Joe Root, ⁠Harry Brook, ⁠Ollie Pope (wk), ⁠Ben Stokes (c), ⁠Chris Woakes, ⁠Gus Atkinson, ⁠Brydon Carse, ⁠Shoaib Bashir