STARS RESTED AS FRINGE TALENTS GET T20 CALL

ENGLAND will today name a shadow squad for three Twenty20 internationals against South Africa as the overload in their busiest year starts to tell. Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid could all be rested later this month for matches that have been crammed between the Champions Trophy and the Test series against South Africa. The upside is that it gives opportunities to exciting fringe talents and Lancashire’s big-hitting Liam Livingstone looks sure to earn a first call-up alongside other newcomers in Middlesex’s Dawid Malan and brothers Tom and Sam Curran of Surrey. The situation is complicated by the floodlit championship matches that begin on June 26, the day after the third T20 international, with England wanting their Test players to get pink ball experience. England face three floodlit Tests against West Indies at Edgbaston in August, Australia at Adelaide in December and New Zealand in Auckland in March so preparation by playing for their counties will be crucial for those Test players. That makes it hard for them to feature in short-form matches against South Africa at Southampton, Taunton and Cardiff that swiftly follow what England hope will be an appearance in Sunday’s Trophy final. It also shows that something must give if England’s top players are not to burn out. Stokes, for example, can now earn huge sums in Twenty20 domestic competitions, notably the Indian Premier League, but will that mean him missing more England matches to avoid being over-played? Fans watching England play South Africa might now question why they will be seeing something akin to a Lions team because stars were allowed to go to the IPL when they could have been resting.

ENGLAND T20 SQUAD (possible): Hales, Roy, Duckett, Morgan (capt), Billings (wkt), Malan, Livingstone, S Curran, T Curran, Dawson, Plunkett, Jordan, Finn.