By Three Lions
February 11 2021

India v England

England have named their squad for next month’s T20 series against India. All 15 members of the side that won 3 – 0 in South Africa remain but there is one addition to the squad and that is Liam Livingstone who has had an excellent Big Bash.

I am happy to see Livingstone in the squad. He adds to England’s options both in terms of batting and his part time leg spin.

Given England’s recent run results it is hard to argue that any member of the current squad shouldn’t be there. The strength of the squad is outlined by the players who have missed out and I will name just a few.

Again there is no place for Joe Root. I know England need to manage his workload particularly with so many tests this year but surely he should be in the squad in world cup year? Perhaps it’s a case of why bother picking him as a squad player if he isn’t going to be in the first eleven but the door is still open when the world cup comes round if the fringe players have failed to state a strong enough case.

No Tom Banton despite impressing when given the chance last summer. He is young and his chance will come but there are just too many in front of him at this moment in time.

No David Willey, this comes as no surprise but I do think that he has been treated appallingly by England. Dumped from the squad on the eve of the world cup after being in the squad for the entire four year period. Brought back last summer when the test and one day squads were operating at the same time. He was a star performer with bat and ball only to be dumped again when everyone was available. There is an argument that he could be in this squad in place of Topley and that would strengthen the batting also but it seems England have decided that he is a backup option only. If I were Willey, the next time England did come calling, I’d say thanks but no thanks.

The two highest run scorers in the latest Big Bash were Alex Hales and James Vince and neither make this squad. Hales on ability alone should still be in despite how successful England have been recently. With the way Morgan spoke about him around the time of the World Cup I just don’t see how he can get himself back in to the fold unless England suffer a disastrous run of results.

As for Vince, I feel that he has just been given too many chances by England and failed to deliver every time. No amount of runs in any tournament will be enough to get him back in to the squad in my opinion which is a shame as he has undoubted talent but has just never been able to reach the heights in an England shirt.

England T20 squad

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), Mark Wood (Durham).

Reserves: Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire).

England Name T20 Squad

Discussion started by England Cricket (IP Logged), 11/02/2021 16:31

England Cricket
11/02/2021 16:31

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