England drop Bairstow for first two Tests against the West Indies

There was no place in the squad either for Ben Foakes, the first-choice wicketkeeper in a Surrey team where the 23-year-old Smith is often deployed as a specialist batsman. Smith was one of three uncapped players included in a 14-man squad, with promising seamers Gus Atkinson and Dillon Pennington included as England look to rebuild ahead of the 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia. But Jack Leach was omitted, with Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir the lone specialist spinner in the squad. Bairstow won his 100th cap in England's previous Test...