England bring Curran back for injured Woakes, drop Pope to play two spinners in 4th Test

Sam Curran will replace the injured Chris Woakes and all-rounder Moeen Ali made a comeback into the Test side after five months as England announced their playing XI for the fourth Test at Southampton.

Sam Curran replaced the injured Chris Woakes and all-rounder Moeen Ali made a comeback into the Test side after five months as England announced their playing XI for the fourth Test at Southampton.

Woakes was ruled out of the contest because of a thigh strain, clearing the way for Surrey’s Sam Curran, who had been instrumental in England’s victory in the series opener at Lord’s.

“Chris Woakes is not fit to play this week, he has a side issue, so Curran makes a comeback,” Cook cleared on the eve of the fourth Test.

Interestingly, England have decided to persist with leg-spinner Adil Rashid and instead dropped top-order batsman Ollie Pope to make space of Moeen Ali in the playing XI, which means England will go in with two spin options for the first time in this series.

Ali has a terrific track-record against India at the Rose Bowl, he had picked up six wickets in the second innings the last time India played here four years ago.

The England skipper also cleared the air on the wicket-keeper of his side, confirming that it will be Jos Buttler who will be taking the gloves from Bairstow, who had a hairline fracture on his finger in the third Test match.

Bairstow will play in the middle order and in all probability will slot in at no. 4.

"Jos Buttler is going to keep. It’s a lot to ask Jonny to do it with a broken finger, he’s fit to bat. We have to do the best thing for this team to win the game. There are no guarantees in international sport.

"We've bounced back from difficult defeats before and that's the challenge for us to do it again here," Root said.

England team for the fourth Test: Cook, Jennings, Root (c), Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler (w), Moeen Ali, Curran, Rashid, Broad, Anderson.