David Payne: The left-arm pacer from Gloucestershire is among the three uncapped players in England’s T20I squad for West Indies tour.
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England have named a strong 16-member squad for their upcoming five-match T20I series in West Indies beginning from January 22 in Bridgetown.
England, whose last T20I was the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi last month, have made as many as eight changes to their World Cup squad.
Considering the minimal gap between the last day of the fifth Ashes 2021-22 Test against Australia and the Bridgetown T20I, there was no way how multi-format players could have traveled and quarantined in the exact opposition part of the world. As a result, white-ball vice-captain Jos Buttler, batters Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow and pacer-duo of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood aren’t part of the T20I squad.
Meanwhile, players such as Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Olly Stone and David Willey were unavailable due to various injuries.
David Payne, Phil Salt and George Garton included in England’s T20I squad for West India tour
A consequence of tightly-knit international fixtures has come in the form of opportunities to play for England for the first time in the shortest format for batter Phil Salt and pacer-duo of David Payne and George Garton. While Salt had played three ODIs against Pakistan earlier this year, Payne and Garton are uncapped at the highest level. However, both have been part of England’s white-ball squad in the recent past.
Having most recently finished playing for Dambulla Giants in Lanka Premier League 2021, Salt is the highest run-scorer (final to be played tonight) on the back of scoring 301 runs in 10 matches at an average and strike rate of 30.10 and 154.35 respectively.
In his 109-match T20 career, Payne has picked 133 wickets at an average of 23.24, an economy rate of 8.51 and a strike rate of 16.3. Garton, who had played five matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indian Premier League 2021 without much success, has 54 T20 wickets to his name in 47 matches.
Batting-pair of Tom Banton and James Vince, who had last played T20Is in 2020 and 2019 respectively, have been recalled to fill voids in the top-order. Banton, who was representing Colombo Stars in LPL 2021, was short of runs with his 109 runs coming at an average and strike rate of 13.62 and 107.92 respectively.
Vince, on the other hand, is currently representing Sydney Sixers in Big Bash League 2021-22. All-rounder Liam Dawson has been preferred as the third spin-bowling option behind Ali and Rashid.
Fast bowling-pair of Saqib Mahmood and Reece Topley, who had last played T20Is in July and March this year respectively, have also been handed T20I comebacks. While Mahmood is plying his trade for Sydney Thunder in BBL 11, Topley is playing for Melbourne Renegades. Much like Vince and Dawson, Topley was also among the three reserves for England’s World Cup squad.
England T20I squad vs West Indies 2022
Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Tymal Mills, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince.
“We have selected a strong squad with some serious batting power and a balanced attack as we begin preparations ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia. The World Cup is less than a year away and there will be increased opportunities for the squad in the absence of those players who are with the Ashes squad.
“I have good memories winning a World Cup in Barbados and I’m really looking forward to going back there with this squad to face a very good West Indies who will test all aspects of our skills,” former England captain and their head coach for West Indies tour Paul Collingwood said in a statement.
