Manchester, Jul 4 (UNI) England National Cricket Selectors on Saturday named a 13-member Test squad leaving out Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali for the first #raisethebat Test match against West Indies at Southampton on July 8.
While nine players will remain as Test reserves in the first Test.
Bairstow has just two fifties from 10 Tests in 2019 with an average of just 18.55, but is confident due to his wicket-keeping skills he will make a comeback, when he was part of training group. However, England are sticking with Jos Buttler as the keeper while Ben Foakes is in the reserves.
He played the intra-squad training match and contributed 11 and 39 runs.
Moeen's last appearance in the whites for England came against Australia during the first Test of the Ashes series held last year. Since then, he had taken a break from red-ball cricket but had constantly reiterated his decision to eventually make a comeback.
Rory Burns is set to be the opener after missing out of the Sri Lanka series due to injury. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes are the pacers in the squad apart from James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Ben Stokes is set to become the 81st England Test captain on Wednesday after it was confirmed earlier in the week that he will Joe Root as captain.
Root, who has returned to Sheffield to be at the birth of his second child, left the secure bubble in Southampton earlier this week. He will self-isolate for seven days before joining up with the squad ahead of the second Test at Emirates Old Trafford starting on July 16.
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