Alex Hales and Liam Plunkett ignored as England announces 55-man training group

England’s 55-man training group has been announced but with the notable absence of Liam Plunkett and Alex Hales. The list includes 18 bowlers who resumed their training last week with an eye on red-ball cricket. Another 37 players have found themselves on the list.

As Britain fights coronavirus, with cases rising with every passing day, there are chances that international cricket could resume in bio-secure environment in the United Kingdom. The training camp will have the senior players Eoin Morgan and Joe Root.

Several uncapped players who impressed on England Lions’ tour to Australia have been included, with James Bracey, Brydon Carse, Will Jacks, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, and Dan Lawrence among them. Ben Duckett, Sam Billings, Reece Topley, Liam Livingstone, Mason Crane, and David Willey are among those who have had limited experience playing for the national side.

Still, no comeback calls for Alex Hales and Liam Plunkett

Mo Bobat, the ECB’s performance director, seemed very optimistic regarding the training as quoted by ESPN, “It’s really pleasing to be in a position to have players returning to training and a huge amount of work has been done by many to get us this far,” Mo Bobat, said. “The pool of players will give selectors strong options when it comes to selecting squads across formats further down the line, as we move closer to our aim of playing international cricket this summer.”

Coming back to Alex Hales, the opening batsman has been left out from the England squad since the start of last year’s summer. Ahead of that summer, he was tested positive for using recreational drugs, which led to his omission from the World Cup squad. Recently, England limited-overs captain Morgan had said that the team needs more time to accept the opener. However, Hales would have hoped for an England comeback this summer.

Liam Plunkett has been ignored by the selectors since the final of last year’s World Cup. After finishing with 3 for 42, the best figures in the final for England, Plunkett was not picked for any other match for England. A few months ago, he was dropped from the list of contracted players as well.

England’s 55-man training group: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow(Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Dom Bess (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Henry Brookes (Warwickshire), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Joe Denly (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Laurie Evans (Sussex), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Richard Gleeson (Lancashire), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Will Jacks (Surrey), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Yorkshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Craig Overton (Somerset), Jamie Overton (Somerset), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Sussex), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Reece Topley (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), Amar Virdi (Surrey), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)