SAFETY FIRST FOR ENGLAND
Ali the latest to be rested ahead of huge summer but Root desperate to play T20s
Moeen Ali has become the latest england cricketer to be given breathing space before the biggest summer in memory, but Test captain Joe Root insists he can withstand the workload of carrying on in all three formats.
Moeen joins Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jason Roy in being rested for the three Twenty20 internationals in St lucia and St Kitts that conclude this two-month Caribbean tour next week, with Sam Curran joining an already depleted squad.
But Root ( below) is determined to play in them against the World T20 champions and cement his place in all formats, even though the World Cup in england this summer followed by the Ashes renders these short-form games almost meaningless.
‘i love playing cricket for england, simple as that,’ said Root ahead of today’s fourth oDi in rainy Grenada. ‘And i’ve not had much opportunity to play T20 cricket in the last couple of years.
‘i don’t want to miss out on a chance to play when i’m fit and feel in a good place to help the team win. i want to be part of a T20 squad that has a very exciting couple of years ahead of it.’
The elephant in the room is franchise cricket, with Moeen, Buttler, Stokes, Sam Curran, David Willey and Joe Denly among World Cup contenders due to play in this year’s indian Premier league next month. So Moeen, Buttler and Stokes will miss games for their country while still being allowed to play in india. At least Root isn’t going to the iPl, but he did play in the Big Bash in Australia last January when he had a chance to rest between tours of Sri lanka and West indies. ‘it was a new adventure,’ he said. ‘i’d not played any franchise cricket before so it was eye-opening and i learned a lot about my own game.
‘it would be easy to come away from a tournament where you haven’t scored many runs and say you didn’t get anything from it but i felt there was a big development in my T20 game. if that can transfer into 50- over cricket as well then that’s fantastic.
‘After the three T20s here i’ll have a good chunk at home. i’m sure i will spend some time with Yorkshire (he is likely to play two early-season championship games) but i will also be able to chill out, relax and get away from cricket.’
england are keen to use all their squad in this one-day series but are likely to field their strongest side today in an attempt to win their 10th successive 50- over series. Stokes should be fit after suffering a minor ankle injury.
Meanwhile, West indies today welcome back another of their own predominantly T20 franchise players when Andre Russell plays in what will be the 100th one-day international between West indies and england. Russell is expected to replace Carlos Brathwaite.