England have named a 16-player squad for their T20 matches in West Indies next month, with Eoin Morgan leading a group containing 11 players who reached the T20 World Cup semis in November.
With Chris Silverwood on Ashes duty, Paul Collingwood will coach the team in the five-match series to be played in Barbados from January 22-30. Marcus Trescothick, Collingwood’s former England batting partner, will join the squad as assistant coach.
Two previously uncapped players in Gloucestershire seamer David Payne and Sussex’s George Garton, both left-arm seamers. Garton was called up for England’s one-day squad to face India in the summer but took no part in play. Phil Salt, who made his England debut last summer in the ODI series with Pakistan, could also make his T20 bow.
Despite the absence of T20 regulars Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan, all playing out in Australia at the Ashes, the squad still leans heavily on the players who lost to New Zealand in the World Cup semis in the UAE. The next T20 World Cup takes place in Australia next October, and Morgan has hinted it may be his last assignment as England’s white-ball captain.
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Malan: White-ball success can lift England in Ashes
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Dawid Malan believes England can reignite their Ashes campaign by tapping into the mindset that has driven their success in white-ball cricket.
When the sides met in the T20 World Cup just a few weeks before the Ashes, England romped home by eight wickets with 50 balls unused as Jos Buttler clubbed a century against a familiar looking bowling attack comprising Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
The fearlessly aggressive methods that have transformed England into a gold standard limited-overs operation in cricket under Eoin Morgan – they are world champions in ODIs and world number ones in T20s – can hardly be transported into the five-day format, but Malan feels there are useful lessons about how to confront their rivals.
“The boys are hurting after our performances in the last two games. They realise we haven’t been good enough across all facets of the game,” he said. “Speaking to all the guys everyone is up for the challenge, everyone is really keen to face up to the Australians. We do it in white-ball cricket, we take them on and there’s a lot of the white-ball players in this group as well.
“Hopefully we can get that mindset and not just go into our shells trying to survive but actually try and take the game to them. The boys want to win the series still. I know it’s a long way to come but we have to do well and play our best cricket to get ourselves back in the series.”
“We have selected a strong squad with some serious batting power and a balanced attack as we begin preparations ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia,” said Collingwood. ‘The next World Cup is less than a year away and there will be increased opportunities for the squad in the absence of those players who are with the Ashes squad.
“I have good memories winning a World Cup in Barbados and I’m really looking forward to going back there with this squad to face a very good West Indies who will test all aspects of our skills.”
England T20 squad to face West Indies
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex – captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), George Garton (Sussex), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Tymal Mills (Sussex), David Payne (Gloucestershire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Reece Topley (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire).
