England have handed a maiden call-up to Liam Patterson-White for the upcoming three-match Test series in South Africa. An all-rounder who bowls left-arm spin, Patterson-White was the highest wicket-taker among spinners in County Championship Division One in 2026: his 42 wickets came at 25.11. Overall, the 25-year-old has accounted for 184 wickets in 75 first-class matches at 33.4 with eight five-wicket hauls.

Patterson-White was rewarded with a development contract by the ECB last month, and has been selected ahead of off-spinner , who was the first-choice spinner of the Test team during the Stokes-McCullum era. As England fielded all-pace attacks for most Tests in the home summer, they often had to Bashir out of the playing XI. Bashir played the last of his 21 Tests against New Zealand in June.

Apart from Patterson-White, the Test squad has part-time spinners like Joe Root, Dan Lawrence and Jacob Bethell.

“Liam has performed very well in the last year or two for Nottingham,” said ECB men’s national selector Marcus North. “He's a left-arm spinner ... In terms of looking at that balance of the Test squad that we've selected, we rate Dan Lawrence very highly in terms of a batting all-rounder that can bowl off spin. Obviously, we've got Joe Root, and we were looking for someone to spin the ball away from the right-hander.

“There's a lot of consistency with Liam and his bowling. We feel that's really matured over the last two seasons. He's got the ability to hold but also get into the game at the back end of the game as well.”

Meanwhile, has recovered from a knee injury and is back in the fold for the Tests in South Africa, which is also new head coach Stephen Fleming’s first assignment. Among others, Josh Tongue will miss the first Test that starts from December 17 for the birth of his second child. Seam-bowling all-rounder Sam Curran, who was being tipped to replace Ben Stokes during the summer, was unavailable for selection due to his wedding.

England Test squad for South Africa tour: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Liam Patterson-White, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue

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