New Zealand vs England: Jonny Bairstow axed for the Test series; new faces included for T20Is

England, on Monday, announced their 15-man squad for their five-match T20I series against New Zealand in November. The reigning 50-over world champions also named their squad for the subsequent two-match Test series. England’s tour of New Zealand will get underway on November 1 with the T20I series before the Tests start on November 21.

Eoin Morgan, who became the first England captain to lift the World Cup, will lead the side in the 20-over format. The visitors will also have some new faces in the side in the form of uncapped Tom Banton and Saqib Mahmood. Both the players have earned their maiden England call-up after impressing in the white-ball format this summer.

Banton starred for Somerset in the T20 Blast, scoring 549 runs as he finished the tournament as its second-highest run-scorer. On the other hand, Lancashire’s Mahmood picked up eight wickets in the T20 tournament. Before that, he had finished the Royal London One-Day Cup as the highest wicket-taker, picking up 28 wickets at an average of less than 19.

Along with Banton and Mahmood, Worcestershire seamer Pat Brown and Lancashire spinner Matthew Parkinson also received their first white-ball call-ups. England have also rested some big names like Ben Stokes, Joe Root, and Buttler after the busy summer which saw them win the World Cup before drawing the Ashes.

Big changes in the Test squad

As far as the Test squad is concerned, England have dropped under-performing Jonny Bairstow. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who is in the T20I squad, has averaged 19.45 in Tests this year. England have included uncapped Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley in their squad. Lancashire leg-spinner Parkinson has been selected with Moeen Ali deciding to take a break from Tests.

Sibley had a remarkable summer in the domestic circuit that paved the way for his maiden call-up. The 24-year-old had accumulated 1,324 County Championship runs going into the final round of fixtures, including an unbeaten double century. With Bairstow out of the squad, Buttler is more than likely to keep the wickets in New Zealand.

England T20I squad:

Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince

England Test squad:

Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes