England Announce 30-man Training Squad for Upcoming Test Series
The emergence of Coronavirus and enforcement of lockdown saw the postponement of sport across the nation. But as lockdown is eased, sport is slowly coming back with the Premier League resuming. Cricket is following suit with England announcing a training squad for the upcoming test series against the West Indies.
England will face the West Indies in a three match test series beginning of July 8, with a three-day warmup match before the series.
The games will be played in a bio-secure environment, in order to limit the threat of Coronavirus.
England have assembled a 30-man training group in Southampton in order to prepare for the test series. There are eight uncapped players in the training group.
National team selector, Ed Smith, has said that this training camp is a great opportunity to scout and reward players that had played well on England Lion’s tours. "It's a really good opportunity to look at players who have had very good Lions tours, for example.
"It will be great to see them rubbing shoulders and locking horns with England incumbents."
The eight uncapped players include Gloucestershire wicketkeeper James Bracey, Essex batsman Dan Lawrence, pace bowlers Saqib Mahmood, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Overton and Overton’s Somerset teammate Lewis Gregory. The eight uncapped players are rounded off with spinners Matt Parkinson and Amar Virdi.
The most notable inclusion in the training group is, however, is not the uncapped players but instead in the inclusion of Worcester all-rounder Moeen Ali. Ali’s involvement in the training squad is a step closer in a return to test cricket for the high-profile all-rounder.
Ali, 32, took a break from cricket after being dropped from the England side during last summer’s Ashes. His inclusion in the training squad is a welcome sight for English cricket fans.
Smith, state that Ali, is ‘refreshed’ and ‘looking forward to rejoining England.’ Smith continued to say that the inclusion of Ali, was welcomed by the England team and selectors as “he is a valued and trusted player across all formats, and he is a big part of England cricket, full stop.”
England training group: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Dom Bess (Somerset), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Jamie Overton (Somerset), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Amar Virdi (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).
