Joe Root has been omitted from England’s T20 squad to play against South Africa in February after the Test series. This is likely to provoke mixed feelings for England’s Test captain, who offered a timely reminder of his red-ball credentials with his double century against New Zealand in Hamilton earlier this month.
Root, who is selected for the 50-over matches in South Africa, may well welcome a little break before undertaking England’s Test tour of Sri Lanka in March. However, he has always stressed that he relishes playing in every form of the game; he craves to be a vital T20 cricketer for England but his value in this format is not so clearcut. He may note that in South Africa all the senior men are back in the T20 squad – with the exception of himself – while there is some experimentation in the 50-over squad with the inclusion of Tom Banton of Somerset.
The chief selector, Ed Smith, explained the thinking. “These two squads were selected with an eye on the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020,” he said. “In the T20s a number of players who were rested for the successful 3-2 victory in New Zealand, return to the squad: Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Jason Roy. We want to expand the pool of players who can perform successfully for England while also help the team to peak for major tournaments.”
However, Root’s omission from the T20 squad should not be interpreted as evidence that he has been ditched from this format. He remains on the list of likely lads but in pencil rather than rather ink.
There is also an element of juggling resources in a busy winter. Root’s workload, which obviously includes the demands of captaincy, is formidable and needs to be managed carefully. This explains why he is not expected to be in the IPL auction this year.
Moreover it is not so hard to imagine Root displacing the likes of Joe Denly, who makes the T20 squad, or even Dawid Malan, whose excellent performances in New Zealand could hardly be ignored, when the selectors settle on their squad for the World Cup in Australia next October.
