England names 13-man squad for the first Ashes test

England names 13-man squad for the first Ashes test: The Ashes will be starting from the 8^th of July and of late, England team has announced their 13-man squad for the first of the five tests to be held in Cardiff.

Among the notable selections, Adil Rashid makes into the team for the first test. As many as seven players of the squad are yet to play a home match of the Ashes till date. These include, Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance, Jos Buttler, Adam Lyth, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood alongside Rashid.

Rashid did manage to play brilliantly in the home series against New Zealand where England won the series by 3-2.

Steven Finn also has been chosen ahead of Liam Plunkett despite of the fact that he did not play a test after he was dropped from the squad after the first test of the Ashes in July, 2013.

Ian Bell will be playing his seventh Ashes in this time. The right handed batsman will have to manage a bunch of responsibilities as England will be looking to get back the urn after they were defeated 5-0 in Australia in 2013/14.

The National Selector of the ECB, James Whitaker said to the BBC, “There are no huge surprises in the squad. Adil Rashid’s inclusion provides Alastair and Trevor with plenty of bowling options and the surface at Cardiff will dictate who makes the final XI. Within the squad there are players who have plenty of experience of Ashes cricket and that knowledge will, I’m sure, be useful for the players who are yet to experience a home Ashes series.”

He further added, “There has been some very good cricket played so far this summer and we are aware that we will need to build on that over the next seven weeks if we are to win back the Ashes.”

Here is the full England squad:

Alastair Cook (Captain)(Essex), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid, Joe Root (all Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham).

Also Read – Everything you need to know about the Ashes- A quick preview of the Ashes 2015