Root left out of another T20 squad by England

By Associated Press 14 December 2019, 12:00AM

LONDON (AP) — Joe Root was left out of England's Twenty20 squad for the three-game series against South Africa in February, signalling his spot in the team for that format's World Cup is no longer guaranteed.

Root, the test captain, missed the five-match T20 series with New Zealand in November along with Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood.

While those six are back in Eoin Morgan's squad for the series with South Africa, Root remained excluded after scoring only one half-century for England during his last 12 innings in the shorter format of the game. He also struggled for form in the Big Bash competition.

In announcing the squads for the one-day international and T20 series against the Proteas, national selector Ed Smith said he had “one eye on the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020.”

“We want to expand the pool of players who can perform successfully for England, while also helping the team to peak for major tournaments," Smith said.

Fast bowler Liam Plunkett remains absent, like he was for the tour of New Zealand, and looks unlikely to play for his country again following his starring role at the 50-over World Cup this year.

Archer, Buttler, Stokes and Wood will not take part in the ODI series, with England looking to manage the schedule of players ahead of the T20 World Cup, which starts in October.

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England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matthew Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Chris Woakes.

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood.

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More AP cricket: https://apnews.com/Cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By Associated Press 14 December 2019, 12:00AM

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