England name strong squads, Root overlooked for T20s

31 Aug 2020 Sam Ferris

Australia's title as the world's No.1 T20 side will be tested against a near full-strength England outfit

Test captain Joe Root has been overlooked for England's T20 international series against Australia, while Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Mark Wood have been named in both white-ball squads.

Archer, Buttler, Wood and left-armer Sam Curran have been picked in the T20I and ODI squads, while Root and allrounder Chris Woakes have been selected in the 50-over squad.

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood. Reserves: Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood. Reserves: Joe Denly, Saqib Mahmood

Those six players were unavailable for selection for England's white-ball series against Pakistan due to their inclusion in England's Test bubble.

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Jason Roy, the dashing opener, has not recovered from a left side strain in time to play in the T20 matches but will remain in England's bio-security bubble in the aim to prove his fitness for the ODI series.

Gun allrounder Ben Stokes is still unavailable for selection after he returned to his native New Zealand on compassionate grounds to be with his ill father.

The decision to not pick Root comes one day after he starred for Yorkshire in England's domestic T20 competition. Playing in Leeds, Root scored 64 from 40 balls as Yorkshire posted 5-220 against Derbyshire before taking 2-7 from two overs with the ball in the 99-run win.

While he has not been picked, England selector Ed Smith says Root's T20 career for his country is not over just yet.

"I don't think any door is closed to Joe Root," Smith said. "He's a brilliant cricketer, outstanding man, he's also England's Test captain and at the moment we are setting up in a particular way as an XI in T20 cricket.

"Joe's not in that and then the decision moves towards 'well, if he's not in that starting XI at the moment, while no doors are closed for him in the future and that could easily change, where's the right place for Joe?'

"He plays so much cricket, gives so much to England every time he plays and the decision is that it's not right for him to have him in the squad if he's not likely to be starting, so he's not in the squad for the T20s.

"Moving forward that could easily change. He could easily come back into the reckoning but at the moment that's where it sits."

Before England face Australia in the first of three T20 internationals on Friday (Saturday 3am AEST), Eoin Morgan's side play Pakistan in the third T20I at Old Trafford before heading south to take on Australia.

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All three T20 internationals between Australia and England will be played in Southampton. The ODI leg of the campaign begins on September 11 in Manchester, which will host the three 50-over contests.

2020 Tour of England

Australia's T20 and ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

September 4: 1st T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 5

September 6: 2nd T20, Southampton, 11.15pm AEST

September 8: 3rd T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 9

September 11: 1st ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 13: 2nd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 16: 3rd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST