Root rested, Moeen Ali returns as England announce limited over squads

Root rested, Moeen Ali returns as England announce limited over squads: England have announced a 13-man squad for the one-off T20 against Australia and a 14-man squad for the five-match ODI series against the same opponents. Allrounder Moeen Ali, who played in all five Ashes Tests against the Aussies, returns to the limited-overs teams after not playing since the World Cup earlier this year while star batsman Joe Root has been rested.

The absence of Root is understandable given his workload – only two players have made more international appearances than him since January 2012. Root, the player of the series in the Ashes with 460 runs, played a central role in England’s 3-2 win and has been a key player in all three international formats in recent times. But with England facing tough Test series away to Pakistan and South Africa later this year, England’s selectors have decided to give the 24-year-old a break from international duty. Root’s Yorkshire team-mate Jonny Bairstow also misses out, as does Sussex all-rounder Chris Jordan.

Essex left-arm seamer Reece Topley, the only player in the T20 squad yet to be capped at international level is included for the shorter format after taking 16 wickets at 22.03 apiece in this season’s NatWest T20 Blast. Both squads will be captained by Eoin Morgan while it will be coach Trevor Bayliss’ first involvement in coloured-clothing with England.

National Selector, James Whitaker, said “We have made some significant progress in our limited overs cricket this summer and the next six games allow these players to continue testing themselves against one of the very best sides in the world. This is primarily a young group of players and the next three weeks will provide them with valuable experience as we continue to identify players who can take our limited overs cricket forward over the next four years”.

England face Australia in the one-off T20 international at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens on Monday before the 5 match ODI series begins at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday. Australia are currently the world champions and the numero uno side in ODI cricket.

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler(wk), Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes

ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler(wk), Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood