England Squad for First West Indies Test Announced

England squad for the first test against West Indies, starting in Southampton on July 8, has been announced on Saturday.

Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali were left out from the 13-man England squad and the nine-man reserve list.

It was confirmed that Ben Stokes will lead the side in the absence of Joe Root, who misses the game due to the birth of his second child.

England squad: Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Reserves: James Bracey, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, Olly Stone.

Bairstow last played a Test at the Oval against Australia last year and was dropped following a poor season. Bairstow only managed two fifties for an average of 18.55 in 10 Tests in 2019.

While Moeen’s last appearance was made against Australia during the first Test of the Ashes series held last year. Since then, Moeen had taken a break from red-ball cricket but had constantly reiterated his decision to eventually make a comeback.