England leave out Joe Root from the T20I squad for South Africa tour

England are set to tour South Africa later this month four Tests, three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals. The visitors announced the squads for the limited-overs leg of the tour and have left out their Test captain Joe Root from the T20 squad. Also, Pat Brown, Tom Banton, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson who made their T20I debut in New Zealand have received ODI call-ups.

Root, along with other members of the World Cup-winning squad was rested for the New Zealand T20Is. While the likes of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler have returned for the T20I series against South Africa, Root hasn’t been selected in the 16-man squad. Tom Banton and Saqib Mahmood too have not been picked for the shortest format while Parkinson and Brown have retained their place.

England have continued to explore more options and rest their top players on the tour with Stokes, Archer and Buttler not being the part of the ODI squad. The national selector Ed Smith cleared that they have picked both the squads keeping the T20 World Cup in mind.

We want to expand the pool of players, says England selector

“These two 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. We want to expand the pool of players who can perform successfully for England, while also helping the team to peak for major tournaments,” Ed Smith was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

The three-match ODI series between England and South Africa is set to commence on February 4 while the two teams will lock horns in the T20Is from February 12. The first of the four Tests will start on the Boxing Day (December 26) at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex/capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex/capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham)

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