Jonny Bairstow, Tim Bresnan and Joe Root are all in contention to play in Thursday’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s.

The Yorkshire trio were named in England’s 12-man squad for the first of seven summer Tests against the Kiwis and Australia.

Bairstow and Root will play barring any last-minute injuries, while Bresnan is fighting it out with Steven Finn of Middlesex – the man in possession – for the last of three seam bowling spots.

Bresnan has made an impressive return from elbow surgery in February with 13 wickets in three LV= County Championship matches for Yorkshire.

His last outing for England was a one-day international against India at Dharamsala on January 27, when he took four wickets.

“It’s great for the club that we’ve got three out of the 12 in the squad from Yorkshire. It’s all credit to the players,” said the county’s director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon.

“Brezzy’s worked really hard with our medical staff to get fit and he’s looking as good as ever. Jonny Bairstow’s run into some form recently and hopefully he’ll go well this week.

“And what can you say about Joe Root? He’s just very greedy at the minute. He’s taken to international cricket like a duck to water.”

Should Bresnan be left out on Thursday, he could return to the Yorkshire team for their Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston even though that match starts on Wednesday.

Yorkshire have to nominate the player who will drop out in place of Bresnan at the toss.

While Bairstow’s last two first-class innings for Yorkshire and England Lions have seen him score 186 and 68, Root has scored 646 runs in four innings this summer, including three hundreds.