Ben Foakes, Keaton Jennings Earn England Call-Ups For Sri Lanka Tour

The England Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the squad that will travel to Sri Lanka. The English team will travel to the sub-continent nation for a series of two Test matches. The first game of the series will be played between 19th March and 23rd March at Galle. Whereas, the second game will be played from 27th March at Colombo.

Ben Foakes and Keaton Jennings are back in the Test squad for the first time in 12 months. They had been away from the Test side since the West Indies tour that took place almost a year ago.

Jennings has been an important player for England in the sub-continent and Foakes, on the other hand, was a crucial member of the side that whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in November 2018.

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England Announce the Test Squad for Sri Lanka Tour:

“The selection panel has supported continuity after a successful series victory in South Africa. The South Africa tour marked the emergence of a very exciting group of young players, creating a nice balance with an experienced core of senior players,” national selector Ed Smith said.

Smith added, “That squad is mostly retained, with some tweaks to the squad relevant to injury, rest and the challenges of playing in sub-continent conditions.”

The main highlight of the announcement was James Anderson has not been included in the side to face Sri Lanka.

Anderson suffered a rib fracture before the South Africa series and was kept away from the series.

However, he announced last week that he is fit now and available for selection. But, the team management seems to be taking no risk with his injury and has decided to rest him for the tour.

Ed Smith has further informed about other key players too. Jonny Bairstow has been rested for the Sri Lanka tour. Jack Leach has recovered from illness and is available for the tour.

Moeen Ali has made himself for this series too. However, Smith made it clear that Moeen is a key figure of the team and the management is constantly in discussion with him about his possible return.

England squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka:

Joe Root (capt), Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

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