England shuffle their aces for South Africa series

LONDON: England opted to limit the workload of some of their World Cup winners when they announced the squads on Friday for one-day and T20 series in South Africa in February.

Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood will all be rested when England play their first ODIs since beating New Zealand at Lord’s on July 14.

Test captain Joe Root is in the ODI squad, led by Eoin Morgan which plays a three-match series from February 4 to February 9 but not in the 16 for the three T20s.

Worcestershire seamer Pat Brown, Somerset batsman Tom Banton and the Lancashire duo of Matthew Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood are included in the ODI squad for the first time.

Banton and Mahmood are among five players who were in the T20 squad for England’s 3-2 victory over New Zealand in November but are dropped for the three T20s in South Africa from February 12-16. Sam Billings, Lewis Gregory and James Vince also miss out as World Cup winners Archer, Buttler, Stokes and Wood return to England action.

“These two squads were selected with an eye on the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020,” national selector Ed Smith said in a press release. “We want to expand the pool of players who can perform successfully for England, while also helping the team to peak for major tournaments.”

The T20 World Cup is in Australia in October and November.

England’s 16-strong squad for the three-match ODI series in South Africa, starting February 4 in Cape Town:

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex/capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

England’s 16-man squad for the three-match T20 series against the Proteas, starting February 12 in East London:

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex/capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham).