Jonny Bairstow to make debut in Lord's Test in place of injured Bopara

London, May 14 (ANI): Yorkshire cricketer Jonathan Bairstow will make his Test debut against the West Indies at Lord's on Thursday.

This makes him the 13th son to follow his father into Test cricket for England.

Jonathan's father David Bairstow played four Tests for England as a wicketkeeper between 1979-81.

Bairstow replaces Essex batsman Ravi Bopara in the squad.

Named in a 13-man squad, Bairstow got the nod over other contenders like James Taylor and Michael Carberry, given his recent good form for Yorkshire and his performance in six one-day internationals and six T20 matches.

"Jonny's got the nod, but the point is now there are quite a few players knocking on the door. It's making the job a little bit more difficult. But that's how we want it to be able to pick who we think is the best one and we feel on this occasion we have done. You can't pick everybody. They've all got and againsts," The Telegraph quoted national selector, Geoff Miller, as saying.

Miller described Bairstow as a 'quality player' even though he hasn't scored huge amount of runs.

"He's just started to get runs, 43 not out yesterday, I'm sure that will be the turnaround in his fortunes. We wouldn't just say 'you've got so many games to prove it'. We don't work like that. We'll know when it's the right time, if it's detrimental to the side, and he'll know that as well," he added. (ANI)

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