No place for Bairstow, Ali in England squad for 1st Test v WI

Jonny Bairstow

Wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow and spin bowling all-rounder Moeen Ali were on Saturday left out of England's 13-man squad for the first 'bio-secure' Test against West Indies, starting July 8. Ben Stokes will lead the side as England's regular captain Root will miss the game to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. The squad features pacers James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood in addition to all-rounders Stokes and Chris Woakes.

In the spin department, England have gone with Dominic Bess. Jack Leach has been left out of the main squad and is among reserves. The most Notable omissions from the 30-man training squad include Bairstow and Moeen. Bairstow's position in the side had first become uncertain in 2019 after a prolonged run of low scores. He was initially left out of England's squad for their tour of New Zealand but was able to find a spot due to injury to Joe Denly.

Bairstow then got a spot on the tour of South Africa but scored only ten runs in two innings of the one Test he played. That left him with a tally of only 334 runs in 2019 at an average of 18.55. Moeen took a break from red-ball cricket after being dropped from England's set up mid-way through the Ashes. He went wicket-less his first bowling innings in the warm-up match and picked up two wickets in the second, but Bess and Leach both got more wickets.

Squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.

Reserves: James Bracey, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson and Olly Stone.

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