England cricket squads for South Africa white-ball cricket tour have been announced on Tuesday. EB decided to rest Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, and Ben Stokes from the ODI squad to give them some time off for their constant bio-secure stay away from families.
Trio rested
Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes will not be part of England’s ODI squad for their three-match series in South Africa. The ECB national selector, Ed Smith said, “The ECB’s position for a number of years now has been to permit players to play in the IPL, and that has coincided with England’s very good form in white-ball cricket, their World Cup success and also now their very strong T20 side. It’s going to have to be a case-by-case situation where we as selectors, but also players, constantly evaluate what’s in the players’ interests but also what’s in England’s interest and we’re very sensible about player workloads.”
He continued, “The ECB’s position has been to allow players to play in the IPL and we are going to take opportunities as selectors for England to rest one or two players when we think it’s a good opportunity to do so. The second half of this white-ball tour is an example. And we’ll also look to make sure England teams are strong across formats at all times but probably peaking, if possible, at big tournaments when we need our best players the most.”
Reason explained by ECB
Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes have played a lot of time in bio-bubble including their time in the UAE playing IPL. Explaining the situation, Smith continued, “I don’t think it’s a question of too tired. It’s more nuanced than that. If you look at the commitment shown to England by those three players – Curran, Archer and Stokes – and their big performances in an England shirt, I don’t think anyone could question their commitment to the cause. It’s simply the case that the ECB had a stance for a number of years of permitting players to play in IPL. Clearly multi-format players, who also play franchise cricket… are people who need some rest and we, as selectors, are very mindful of that.”
England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), Mark Wood (Durham).
England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Tom Curran (Surrey), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Reece Topley (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).
Reserves across both formats: Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Tom Helm (Middlesex).
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