Root left out of T20 squad for South Africa with World Cup in mind
Joe Root has been left out of the England Twenty20 squad for the tour of South Africa in February.
He was among those who took no part in the T20 series against New Zealand last month, but Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood are all back in Eoin Morgan’s squad for the three-game series.
The England Test captain has scored only one half-century for
England in his past 12 T20 innings and, commenting on the selection of the T20 and one-day international squads, national selector Ed Smith said: “These squads were selected with an eye on the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020.
“In the T20s, a number of players who were rested for the successful 3-2 victory in New Zealand return to the squad: Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Jason Roy. We want to expand the pool of players who can perform successfully for England, while also helping the team to peak for major tournaments.”
Liam Plunkett remains absent, as he was for the tour of New Zealand. Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Lewis Gregory, Saqib Mahmood and James Vince miss out on a place in the T20 squad, but Root, Banton and Mahmood will be in South Africa for the three-match ODI series.
Worcestershire seamer Pat Brown and Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson are also part of the one-day squad, while Archer, Buttler, Stokes and Wood will not take part, with the ECB looking to manage the schedule of players.