Buttler, Stokes rested for Windies T20Is

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England will use the upcoming Twenty20 series against Windies to rest some of their stars ahead of the home World Cup and summer Tests against Ireland and Australia.

The 14-man squad to contest three T20I matches against Windies, starting in St Lucia on March 5, will not feature Jos Buttler or Ben Stokes, who will return home after the fifth and final match in the ongoing ODI series. Victory on Wednesday (February 21) in the first ODI sees England hold a 1-0 lead. Jason Roy, who set-up the chase of 361 with a magnificent 123 at the top of the order, will also miss the series to return home for the birth of his first child.

Kent’s Sam Billings and Middlesex’s Dawid Malan make their returns to the squad for the first time since last year’s Trans-Tasman Tri-series between Australia and New Zealand. Malan was particularly unfortunate to have faced the axe in this format after scoring four half-centuries in his five matches to date. Not only does he average exactly 50 in the format, but his strike rate is an impressive 150.

With a huge nine months ahead for English cricket, and with six of the 14-man squad having been out here since the start of the year for the Test series, there will be a degree of rotation. But Joe Root will get the chance to make a rare appearance in the format.

Since the end of the 2016 World T20, the Test captain has played just eight of a possible 18 matches and has lamented the lack of opportunity to use the shortest format to enhance his limited overs batting. The England management have regularly opted to rest him for these series which, like this one, come at the end of long tours.

He will hope to play all three fixtures to build up his stock ahead of the upcoming World T20 in Australia next year. A maiden stint in the recently completed Big Bash League did not go according to plan with Root averaging 15.50 in seven innings with a top score of 26 and a strike rate of 114.81. If selected, it will be Root’s first overseas T20I since India at Bengaluru in February 2017.

Another name worth noting for its absence is Jofra Archer. The delay in naming this squad was down to the England selectors working out who needed a break and thus what spots they needed to fill. But there was also an inkling that Archer, who qualifies for England in March, could sneak onto the trip if he had fulfilled the residency part of the qualification criteria in time. However, the date in question, towards the end of the month, will come too late for this series.

Squad: Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, David Willey, Mark Wood