England squad for Pakistan T20Is: David Willey, Sam Billings and Tom Banton handed comebacks in 14-man squad

England squad for Pakistan T20Is: England have announced a 14-member squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Pakistan.

England have handed comebacks to all-rounder David Willey, batsman Tom Banton, wicket-keeper batsman Sam Billings and fast bowler Lewis Gregory for their upcoming three-match T20I series against Pakistan.

Willey, who made his ODI comeback after more than a year against Ireland last month, is likely to counter similar fate in T20Is as well. It is worth mentioning that the 30-year old player’s last T20I had also come against Pakistan at Sophia Gardens in May 2019.

As far as Banton, Billings and Gregory are concerned, the trio had last played a T20I during the tour of New Zealand last year but weren’t considered for the subsequent tour of South Africa.

Billings, who was named as Eoin Morgan’s deputy for T20Is in New Zealand, particularly let down with his 34 runs in five innings coming at an average of 17 and a strike rate of 100. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that him playing a couple of match-winning innings against Ireland most recently has paved his way back into the T20I side.

England squad for Pakistan T20Is

Batsman Dawid Malan and all-rounder Chris Jordan, who had missed the Ireland series due to calf and bicep injuries respectively, have retained their place in the squad and will represent England for the first time in this series.

Left-arm seamer Reece Topley, who made his international comeback after four year last month, has been included in the side as a reserve. Other than Topley, fast bowler Pat Brown and batsman Liam Livingstone will also enter the bio-secure bubble in Manchester as reserves.

England have named a 14-man squad for 3 T20s v Pakistan. Jordan, Malan, Gregory, Denly, Willey among those in. No Vince.

— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) August 18, 2020

All-rounder Ben Stokes, wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler, spinner Mark Parkinson and seamers in Mark Wood and Sam Curran are the five players who traveled to South Africa but haven’t been included in this squad. The same is a consequence of English selectors wanting to field separate squads for separate formats this summer.

National selector Ed Smith said: “In this crowded international summer, players who are currently in the Test match bio-secure bubble for the Pakistan Test series are not included in this squad.

“We want to give multi-format players some opportunity to rest and refresh, while still selecting strong squads for every series. We will announce the squad for the Australia T20 series at a later date.”

England T20I squad for Pakistan series:

Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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