England rest Joe Root as uncapped Reece Topley gets ODI and T20I call-up

England rest Joe Root as uncapped Reece Topley gets ODI and T20I call-up

Joe Root has been rested and Reece Topley is the only uncapped player called up as England announced two limited-overs squads to take on Australia.

Root, an ever-present in England squads in all formats of recent times and winner of the Compton-Miller Medal as man of the series in this summer's Ashes, is rested both from a 13-man squad for next Monday's one-off NatWest Twenty20 international in Cardiff and from a 14-man squad for the five Royal London one-day internationals which follow.

Essex left-arm seamer Topley, 21, is included in the Twenty20 squad only.

Eoin Morgan will captain both, having led England in their unsuccessful World Cup campaign last winter but also then to success in a thrilling ODI series victory at home to New Zealand.

Morgan has been rested for several matches by Middlesex after losing his form with the bat, but will be back in international colours as expected.

Moeen Ali is back in both squads too, having been injured at the start of the summer, as is his fellow all-rounder Chris Woakes, who was similarly absent until recently with knee and hamstring trouble.

There is, however, perhaps surprisingly, no place for Jonny Bairstow - man-of-the-match for the hard-hitting innings which helped England to an unlikely series-clinching ODI victory over the Kiwis at Chester-le-Street in June, when Jos Buttler was unavailable after splitting the webbing on his hand.

Pace-bowling all-rounder Chris Jordan, back from injury for Sussex, is another who has not got the nod from England this time.

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National selector James Whitaker said: "We have made some significant progress in our limited-overs cricket this summer, and the next six games allow these players to continue testing themselves against one of the very best sides in the world.

"This is primarily a young group of players, and the next three weeks will provide them with valuable experience as we continue to identify those who can take our limited-overs cricket forward over the next four years."

Australia are World Cup holders, having beaten New Zealand in the final in Melbourne following England's embarrassing early exit almost six months ago.

Yorkshire seamer Liam Plunkett has been named in the ODI squad, and is hoping to make up for a little lost time having spent much of the summer as cover for England's Test bowlers.

He said: "It is going to be huge.

"Obviously, the Ashes have been great to watch. I have been 12th or 13th man, so I have been there - and it's been a great atmosphere."

Plunkett knows it will not be easy against Australia.

He added: "They won the World cup not so long ago - they are the best in the world, so it's going to be a tough 'ask'.

"But we beat New Zealand, who were in that World Cup final, so it shows where we are - and I am really looking forward to the tough competition."

England T20 squad: EJG Morgan (Captain), MM Ali, SW Billings, JC Buttler, ST Finn, AD Hales, AU Rashid, JJ Roy, BA Stokes, RW Topley, JM Vince, DJ Willey, CR Woakes.
England ODI squad: EJG Morgan (Captain), MM Ali, SW Billings, JC Buttler, ST Finn, AD Hales, LE Plunkett, AU Rashid, JJ Roy, BA Stokes, JWA Taylor, DJ Willey, CR Woakes, MA Wood.


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