England include Dom Bess in 22-member squad: The English selectors have named 13 players and as many as nine reserves for the first Test against West Indies.
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England have named a 22-member squad for the first Test against West Indies which will resume international cricket post the COVID-19 outbreak from July 8.
While 13 players will be eligible for selection in the Playing XI at the Ageas Bowl, the rest nine of them will primarily remain with the team as reserves.
Regular captain Joe Root, wicket-keeper batsman Ben Foakes, batsman Keaton Jennings, all-rounder Sam Curran, spinners Jack Leach and Matt Parkinson and pacer Saqib Mahmood are the seven players who had toured Sri Lanka but haven’t found a place in the 13-member squad for Southampton Test.
Another astonishing exclusion is that of wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow who was dropped from the team after last year’s Ashes but played the Centurion Test as a specialist batsman. Bairstow, 30, had scored 39 (47) in a 255-run chase for Team Stokes after being promoted to open the batting yesterday. With Root missing the first Test due to paternity leave, England were expected to bank on Bairstow’s 70-Test experience.
England include Dom Bess in 22-member squad
Somerset spinner Dom Bess, who had played a couple of Tests in South Africa earlier this year, has been selected as the lone specialist spinner ahead of Leach and Moeen Ali. Given Ali’s skill with the bat, him not getting the nod is surely surprising for the hosts.
As far as the incoming players are concerned, fast bowlers in James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood and batsman Rory Burns have been included into the squad.
England’s 13-man squad for WI Test is all about consistency of selection.
Nine played in win at the Wanderers (missing: Root, second child; Sam Curran, been unwell).
Also included: Burns, Anderson and Archer (all fit again), plus Bess who played in previous two SA Tests.
— Simon Mann (@Cricket_Mann) July 4, 2020
The development means that Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Joe Denly will form England’s top four in the first Test followed by the likes of captain Ben Stokes, batsman Ollie Pope and vice-captain Jos Buttler.
England squad for first Test vs West Indies – Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
England reserves for first Test vs West Indies – James Bracey, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, Olly Stone
