England have named uncapped seamer Richard Gleeson in their squad for this month’s T20 series against India, as the post-Eoin Morgan era gets underway.
England’s Test players will not feature in the three-match series, which begins just two days after the scheduled end of the rearranged Fifth Test against the same opposition at Edgbaston, but multi-format stars Joe Root and Ben Stokes will make their white-ball returns in the three ODIs that follow.
Jos Buttler will lead the side for the first time since being appointed England’s new white-ball captain, following Morgan’s international retirement.
There are few surprises in the 14-man T20 squad, but the inclusion of 34-year-old Lancashire seamer Gleeson, who is the second-leading wicket-taker in this season’s Vitality Blast, is notable.
England have named a 15-man squad for the three ODIs, the first of which is at Kia Oval on July 12, when both Stokes and Root will feature in a white-ball side for the first time since July last year.
A hectic schedule means England have been forced to operate entirely separate red- and white-ball sides during bilateral series of late, while Stokes missed last year’s T20 World Cup as he took a break from the game over mental health issues.
The in-form Jonny Bairstow will also return, having not played for England in limited-overs formats since last November’s semi-final defeat by New Zealand in that competition.
While England’s batting line-up will be at full strength for the ODI series, and missing only Stokes and Bairstow for the T20s, their bowling options remain depleted.
Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes are all out injured, while Adil Rashid is absent after being granted permission to miss both series to make the Islamic holy pilgrimage to Mecca, with Matt Parkinson named as the only specialist spinner in both squads.
Under new head coach Matthew Mott, England hammered the Netherlands 3-0 in their ODI series last month, breaking the world record for the highest one-day total in the process when scoring 498 in their opener, but India will provide a much sterner test.
The tourists named their squad for the series yesterday, and unlike England have opted to make their Test players available from the Second T20 onwards.
That means Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja could all line-up at Edgbaston on July 9, while captain Rohit Sharma is expected to be available for the opener at the Ageas Bowl two days earlier, having missed the Test after contracting Covid.
T20 squad: J Buttler (c, wkt), M Ali, H Brook, S Curran, R Gleeson, C Jordan, L Livingstone, D Malan, T Mills, M Parkinson, J Roy, P Salt, R Topley, D Willey
ODI squad: J Buttler (c, wkt), M Ali, J Bairstow, H Brook, B Carse, S Curran, L Livingstone, C Overton, M Parkinson, J Root, J Roy, P Salt, B Stokes, R Topley, D Willey
