Everything you need to know about Tom Westley, England's newest recruit

Essex top-order batsman Tom Westley has earned a maiden call-up to the England team and is now all set to make his debut against South Africa in the third Test at Kia Oval.

He is expected to be slotted in at No. 3 in place of the injured Gary Balance who is out with a broken finger.

Westley’s inclusion comes on the back of a splendid domestic run that included three centuries in his last six first-class innings.

Delighted after making it to the squad, Westley told The Independent: "I've felt good the last few years at Essex.

My first-class record has been very good. I've scored runs for the Lions and scored runs against the touring first-class teams - I've been in a good space for a number of years. So if there's ever a time to play it would be now.”

Overwhelmed with the messages and support I've received today! Thank you, very humbled! Excited for next week...

— Thomas Westley (@Westley21) July 20, 2017

Here are some things you need to know about him:

- He was born on 13th March, 1989 in Cambridge and is currently 28 years old.

- Keith Fletcher, who captained and coached Essex, spotted Westley at the age of 15 and recommended him to Essex. Fletcher was impressed with him when he Westley score a half century for the Cambridgeshire U-15 team.

- Westley was coached at Essex by cricketing icon Graham Gooch, and he will thus be following in the footsteps of Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara when he makes his debut for England.

- He then came under the tutelage of the legendary Grant Flower during his time with Durham University. “Foxy” Fowler, the former England batsman who ran the university’s centre of excellence for 19 years, had been impressed with Westley and called him ‘beautifully stubborn like Mike Atherton’.

- He made a successful transition from the Academy to the first team squad back in 2006. He had also previously represented England in the U-19 level.

- While he was still a student at Durham University, he scored his maiden first-class century in 2009, scoring 132 against Derby and then brought up his highest score of 185 against Glamorgan at Colchester in 2012.

- His father Adrian Westley also had a passion for cricket when he was young and still plays for Cambridgeshire Over-40. He used to take Tom to the cricket academy at Chelmsford on two-hour round trips.

- His entire family played cricket for the village of Weston Colville where they have also been in charge of everything from preparing the pitch and boundary boards.

- Westley has scored 478 runs at an average of 53.11, along with two centuries, and played an integral role in Essex’s County Championship victory this season.

- He has scored 8050 runs from 141 matches at an average of 37.44 with a highest score of 254 in first-class cricket. He has scored 18 centuries and 50 half-centuries. He also has 55 wickets with best bowling figures of 4 for 55.

- He has scored 2093 runs from 71 matches at an average of 33.75 in List A cricket. He has scored four centuries and 15 half centuries at this level besides also having taken 20 wickets.

- He scored more than 1700 runs at an average of 55 across all formats in 2014 and followed it up with a century against the visiting Australian team at Chelmsford ahead of the Ashes tour. His knock did not go unnoticed and he received congratulatory messages from Cook himself.

- He was named the DeVines Player of the Year, the Player’s Player of the Year and the Batsman of the Year in 2014.

- He recently scored a classy 106 for the England Lions against a full-strength South African team at Worcester last month.

Westley has quite the reputation for scoring centuries against touring sides — he scored a 108 against Sri Lanka last season and had scored that brilliant century – 144 against an Aussie attack comprising Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon – before the Ashes in 2015.