England Test Squad Announced for the Sri Lanka Tour!

There has been lots of talk over the last few weeks about what squad England would pick for Sri Lanka, especially since it became clear that Jonny Bairstow was returning to the squad. We’ve covered Bairstow in quite a lot of detail in a previous article, but today we will quickly talk our way through the rest of our squad and how we think they will line up in Galle.

The headlines from the announcement were:

• Archer and Stokes are rested.

• Burns opts out as he awaits the birth of his child.

• Pope missed out as still recovering from injury; but will continue his rehab with the squad ahead of India.

• Foakes, Stone and Lawrence all included.

• Bairstow and Moeen recalled.

We will start at the top of the order, and with Burns unavailable it seems highly likely that Crawley will be promoted to open with Sibley. We’re a backer of this move as long term we see Zak as an opener (most probably alongside Sibley), although for the next year or so we would prefer to see him to have the chance to continue at number 3 when possible.

With Crawley likely to move up, the number 3 spot is vacant and it seems that this may well be the reason why Jonny Bairstow has been recalled. He was successful last time he batted at 3 in Sri Lanka, and we think it would take a brave man to bet against him being successful again this time round. After all, he loves to prove his doubters wrong!

Some may have considered Lawrence as an option at 3, however the lack of Stokes and Pope means that he will be likely to appear a little bit lower down at 5 and help to strengthen England’s middle order. We’re very excited to see him make his debut, he has shown in the last year or so that he is a class batsman in all formats and we are backing him to have a long career in the test match squad. Expect to see him in the squad and possibly even the 11 come the Ashes too; he’s done well in Australia previously and those wrists are going to go viral. Of course it is expected Joe Root will bat at 4 and we don’t think that needs any discussion.

At 6, Buttler will no doubt continue. There is debate as to whether he retains the gloves in the difficult conditions of the sub continent, or whether the country’s best glove man Foakes takes over and bats at 7. Our guess would be that Buttler will start with the gloves and will be backed by Root and Silverwood, which we don’t disagree with.

Down at 7, there is many options; including Foakes as we have just mentioned. However, we feel that the number 7 spot will be taken by an all rounder. For us, this will be a shoot out between the returning Moeen and the irrepressible Sam Curran. This decision will no doubt come down to the pitch and also the form of Moeen. If England want a third spinner (not including the part time option of Root... and even Lawrence) then this is surely where Moeen gets his chance and bats. It’s hard to say who Root will go with this far out, but we’d edge our bets that it will be Moeen; although we’re a big fan of Curran and think two spinners plus Root will be enough.

Dom Bess is one of only 3 spinners selected, and having played all summer, he must be a shoe in to keep his place and bat at number 8. Following him at 9, the battle for us is between the magnificent Broad and the eternally-underrated Woakes. We would of course be happy with either, but would expect Broad to retain his place for the first test and then be rested for Woakes in the 2nd test, thus hopefully avoiding another angry Broad rant from a Big Brother diary room chair!

In our eyes, taking the 10th spot in the line-up will be one of the out and out pace duo of Wood and Stone. That extra pace on the ball will surely be a much needed option in Sri Lanka. Fortunately England now seem well stocked in that department even with Jofra rested. Again you would expect each of them to play 1 test in the series to keep them fresh and hopefully injury-free.

Finally, at 11 will surely be our other spin option in the squad (and the greatest number 11 this century) and that is everyone’s favourite Jack Leach; who we hope will avoid illness and be a key part of a successful series for England

You will no doubt have noticed that we haven’t included Jimmy in the discussions. Now we absolutely adore Jimmy and we’re sure he could do a good job in Sri Lanka, but we wonder if he may have been selected to use the tour as a training camp for India (we’re sure he will feature across those 4 tests, especially with a day-night test scheduled) and to also take on a bit of a coaching role with some of the younger lads. If not then he may take the spot of Woakes in the 2nd test but we just can’t see it currently.

Overall the squad is very much as expected, and even the reserves are pretty much as everyone would have predicted. A couple of omissions that may disappoint people are those of Joe Denly, Keaton Jennings and Adil Rashid.

Denly may well have been worth a shout due to his ability to bat anywhere (very much like Bairstow) and also bowls reasonable leg spin; with the squad possibly lacking back up options with the bat, I’m a little surprised he hasn’t made it instead of Jimmy.

Jennings was a consideration for some due to his subcontinent form in the past but I am of the opinion that he simply isn’t quite good enough for test cricket and therefore back his omission.

Many would also have liked to see Rashid back in whites, and a leg spin option would no doubt be useful in the subcontinent (especially when that option I s as good as Adil) but I think that boat may well have now sailed. He is key to England’s T20 plans and so will be wrapped up in cotton wool until the World Cup for us. Parkinson, who is a reserve, seems to be England’s next red-ball leg spinner.

To summarise, despite the big names rested and unavailable, England are still a strong team and will be expecting to come home with a series win from this tour; whilst also giving further experience to several players ahead of India and the Ashes.

Predicted XI:

Sibley

Crawley

Bairstow

Root (C)

Lawrence

Buttler (WK)

Moeen

Bess

Broad

Wood

Leach

Squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Reserves: James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.

Let us know your thoughts! And as always, please follow us and share our work!

Go well!