England have decided to rest Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes for the Twenty20 series against West Indies.
Sam Billings of Kent and Middlesex’s Dawid Malan return to a 14-man squad for the three-match series against the world champions, which starts on 5 March in St Lucia. It is the first time either have appeared in an England squad since last year’s tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Buttler and Stokes will return home after the fifth one-day international against West Indies on 2 March. Surrey’s Jason Roy will also miss the series to return home for the birth of his first child after the final ODI.
Buttler and Stokes are expected to play key roles in the World Cup and Ashes this summer as well as heading to the Indian Premier League where they will be teaming up at Rajasthan Royals.
The national selector, Ed Smith, said he was not allowing domestic tournaments to take precedence over England duty in allowing Stokes and Buttler time away before the IPL. “That’s not the case. I have not favoured franchise cricket over internationals,” he said.
“The strong recommendation of the head coach was that he would like to rest these two players and I said: ‘That’s fine by me.’ There’s an incredible period of cricket coming up … I would view it as an unusual set of circumstances and as us responding to them in the best possible interests of English cricket.”
The white-ball leg of England’s tour of the Caribbean got off to a spectacular start in Barbados on Wednesday with a record run chase spearheaded by Roy and Joe Root that brought them a six-wicket victory.
England T20 squad v West Indies
Eoin Morgan (Middx, capt); Moeen Ali (Worcs), Jonny Bairstow (Yorks), Sam Billings (Kent), Tom Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Alex Hales (Notts), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Middx), Liam Plunkett (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorks), Joe Root (Yorks), David Willey (Yorks), Mark Wood (Durham).
IT20 fixtures
1st T20 (d/n): Tue 5 March, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia.
2nd T20 (d/n): Fri 8 March, Warner Park, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
3rd T20 (d/n): Sun 10 March, Warner Park.
