The squad for Sri Lanka tour has been announced by the England Cricket board today. A strong 16 man squad will play a 5-match ODI series followed by Tests in this all format tour commencing October 10.
The side has undergone few changes from the one against India. Liam Plunkett will miss the first half of the series on account of his marriage. Olly Stone, the youngster from Warwickshire received his maiden call and will replace the former.
Curran brothers also got their calls and it will be an added advantage for the side if they can recreate the “Surrey” magic. However, David Willey who is battling an injury hasn”t made it to the side.
The selectors did not tweak the top and middle orders as they have given their best in the recent times. Bairstow, Hales, Roy and Root. Skipper Eoin Morgan with all-rounders Stokes and Moeen have been retained in the squad. The Asian conditions forced the board to include two spinners in the form of Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson. Jos Buttler, Woakes and Wood also made it to the star-studded side.
Prior to the ODI series, England will play two warm-up games against SLC XI which can help them to finalize playing XI. The number one ranked ODI side will try to stick to their rankings while Srilanka has a lot of homework to do.
Matthews and his men received heavy criticism after their dismal show at the Asia cup. Team shuffles haven”t yielded favourable results and the side is really battling to boost its morale.
So what”s your take on this series? A Buttler magic? Or a positive attitude from Sri Lankan side?
England: Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood