England have announced their 16-man squad for the T20 series against Sri Lanka scheduled to take off on June 23.
The series will see the return of Chris Woakes, who last played for England in the format way back in 2015. The selectors also called back David Willey, who has not played white-ball cricket for England since 2019 and Liam Dawson who has not featured since the year 2018.
The series will also see the return of Jos Buttler after missing out on the ongoing Test series against New Zealand as England went ahead with ‘fresh faces.’ From the Test squad facing the Blackcaps in a two-match Test series, only Mark Wood has found a place in the lineup.
England head coach and now also a selector Chris Silverwood underlined the preparation for the ICC World T20 scheduled for later this year behind the move to pick other ‘experienced’ players as many other first-choice players such as Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer are yet to recover from injuries.
"With the T20 World Cup only a few months away, this summer is about perfecting our team and continue to progress on the field. We want to approach every series with an influx of players aiming to win every match and giving us the best preparation as we get closer to the tournament," England men's Head Coach, Chris Silverwood, said.
"With several high-profile players missing through injury, it allows me to look at some of our experienced players who have not featured at this level for some time. The likes of Chris Woakes and David Willey are very experienced cricketers, and to have them both in the mix is exciting and shows the depth of squad we have available. I want our team to play an attacking form of the game. I hope we can continue to excite the England fans with our approach," he added.
England squad
Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (WK), Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood