England announce squad for fixtures against Australia

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have released the list of players selected for the upcoming limited-overs fixtures against Australia. England will host Australia for 3 T20 Internationals at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton before the two teams move to Old Trafford for 3 ODIs, which will be part of the ICC Men’s ODI Super League.

Here is the 14-man T20I squad:

Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

Reserves:

Liam Livingstone & Saqib Mahmood 

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And this is the list of players picked for the 3-match ODI series:

Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Reserves:

Joe Denly & Saqib Mahmood

ALSO READ: Australia name 21-man squad to join England’s bio-secure bubble for limited-overs tour

Jos Buttler is set to make a return to limited-overs Cricket having played the longest format for the last couple of months. The other members of the Test squad to have made it to both the limited-overs squads are Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Mark Wood. Test captain Joe Root and all-rounder Chris Woakes have been added to the ODI squad.

National Selector Ed Smith commented, “These two series against Australia provide an exciting end to the summer. We have selected strong squads. We are also continuing to develop depth in preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cups.”

Surprisingly, all-rounder David Willey, who was a standout performer for England in the ODI series against Ireland with both bat and ball, was left out of both the squads. Willey, who was left out of the England squad in favour of Jofra Archer in the World Cup last year, had a major impact in all three One Dayers against the Irish, taking a five-for in the first game, guiding England to a nervy victory in the second game with 47 unbeaten runs, and scoring a half-century in the third. 

Smith, who informed Willey of his omission during the ongoing T20I series against Pakistan, clarified on the non-selection of the Yorkshire all-rounder, saying, “David’s gone away, he’s worked on things, he’s shown how resilient and determined he is as a cricketer. He’s come back having put in a lot of hard work. He’s also talked about how he felt refreshed going into this season and that’s been reflected in some strong performances, including against Ireland.

“The fact is, with David, is that we are preferring, at the moment, some other people to him. That’s a very difficult decision. It’s of course extremely disappointing from David’s point of view, who is playing good cricket and still has ambitions to be in all the England white-ball sides. But that’s one of the unfortunate consequences of having a lot of strength in depth. We work hard on trying to establish strength in depth.

Barbados-born fast bowler Jofra Archer was preferred ahead of David Willey for the 2019 World Cup

“From an individual point of view, the downside is that players who have done very well, even recently, still can’t find a place in the squad, and that’s the situation with David. Everything he achieved against Ireland has been noted. His performances over a number of years are well understood by the selectors, but in this instance, we are giving opportunities to other people.

“I spoke to David today. He’s an outstanding man. I’ve had a number of difficult conversations with David from a decision point of view in that I’ve been communicating difficult decisions. Last summer before the World Cup was one example. This is another example. He played well against Ireland, he is playing well.

“The decision is not an easy one and he’s disappointed. But what you always get with David is an extremely dignified and outstanding man who will make his position clear but also craves clarity from your side, and it was a very honest conversation.”