There was also a recall for paceman Mark Wood after his spell with England Lions over the winter, as Jake Ball, Gary Ballance and Tom Curran were dropped.

The selectors have stood by under-pressure Mark Stoneman and James Vince after their difficult Ashes tours, a move that Trevor Bayliss endorsed before the announcement by saying: “They have shown enough that they should get another couple of games.”

Whitaker urged the three dropped players to fight their case in county cricket.

“All three players (Gary Ballance, Jake Ball, Tom Curran) have worked hard on the recent Ashes tour. Unfortunately, they miss out on selection for New Zealand. All three will return to county cricket and will be looking to start the season well with a view to staking their claim to get back into selection reckoning. They are talented players and I am sure their time will come again.”

Ben Stokes is again included in the squad, though his involvement remains subject to any relevant legal or disciplinary developments in relation to the incident in Bristol in September. Should the ECB Board receive formal confirmation that Stokes has either been charged or that he will face no charges, they would convene within 48 hours to make a decision on his availability for the team at that stage.

England Test squad to face New Zealand

Joe Root (Yorkshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Craig Overton (Somerset), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Stoneman (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)