Jos Buttler rested for Scotland ODI
May 30, 2018 Jeffrey Carter
Eoin Morgan will lead full-strength England squads for the upcoming ODI series against Scotland and Australia next month although Jos Buttler will be rested for the trip to Edinburgh after a taxing workload at the start of the year.
England have picked a 13-man squad for the one-off match against Scotland on June 10 and a 14-man party for the five game series against Australia. There are no new caps in either, recognition both of the excellent recent ODI form which has seen England rise to number one in the world and the settled nature of the team which has helped them get there.
Morgan suffered a fractured finger on his right hand while fielding for Middlesex on Sunday which has prevented him captaining the World XI against West Indies at Lord's on Thursday (May 30) in a T20 match to raise funds for the Hurricane Relief Fund. He will, however, be fit to captain England against Scotland at The Grange.
After five months of almost continuous cricket, England have opted to rest Buttler for the trip to Edinburgh with Kent captain Sam Billings taking his place behind the stumps. Jonny Bairstow, the Test keeper, will play as a sole batsman in Scotland while Buttler, who made a successful return to England's Test side against Pakistan at Lord's, will return for the series against Australia which begins at the Kia Oval on June 13.
Along with Buttler, Surrey's fast-bowler Tom Curran, who made such a good impression with the white-ball during the winter, is the only other player included for the Australian matches who will not make the trip north of the border for England's first match in Scotland since 2014. In that game, they beat the hosts by 39 runs in Aberdeen and they also comfortably defeated Scotland during the dismal 2015 World Cup campaign.
White ball specialists Alex Hales and Adil Rashid are both included in the two squads as is Moeen Ali who was dropped from England's Test side on the tour to New Zealand in March. All-rounder Chris Woakes, having cemented his position as the leader of England's white-ball attack over the past two years, will make the starting eleven after being overlooked for the last two Test matches.
After missing seven of England's ODIs last winter because of a hamstring injury picked up in the third ODI against Australia in Sydney, Liam Plunkett is now fully fit and will hope to continue the form which has seen him pick up 40 wickets at 23.22 in 21 matches since the start of 2017. Mark Wood, David Willey and Ben Stokes are the other fast-bowling options included in both squads.
In stark contrast to their Test fortunes, under the leadership of Morgan, England's one-day team is soaring. They defeated Australia 4-1 in the ODI series which followed the Ashes defeat and then went on to beat New Zealand 3-2 in an excellent series. They have now won nine of their last ten bilateral match-ups and are peaking nicely before next year's World Cup.
England squad for Scotland ODI: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
England squad for Australia series: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
ODI Fixtures:
Scotland v England, Sunday June 10, The Grange, Edinburgh (11am BST)
1st ODI, England v Australia, Wednesday June 13, The Kia Oval, London (1pm BST)
2nd ODI, England v Australia, Saturday June 16, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (11am BST)
3rd ODI, England v Australia, Tuesday June 19, Trent Bridge, Nottingham (2pm BST)
4th ODI, England v Australia, Thursday June 21, Emirates Riverside, Chester-le-Street (2pm BST)
5th ODI, England v Australia, Sunday June 25, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester (11am BST)