NZ vs ENG 2019: England Drop Jonny Bairstow From Test Squad for the New Zealand Series

England have announced their Test and T20 squad for the upcoming New Zealand series. Wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out of the squad for the two-test series in New Zealand. However, he has been included in the Twenty20 squad for the tour which will begin in November. The tour comprised of five T20 matches and two tests that will begin on November 21 and 29 respectively. The test matches will not be a part of the ICC World Test Championship.

Jonny Bairstow has scored 214 runs in the recently-concluded drawn Ashes series with an average of below 24 in the five tests, including one half-century to his name in 10 innings. However, Jos Buttler is expected to be the wicketkeeper while Ollie Pope, who last played a Test in August 2018, has been named as a back-up role.

Another notable exclusion is Jason Roy, who struggled during the Ashes with 110 runs in eight innings. He was not included in either squad, while all-rounder Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes have not included in the T20 series.

Four players have earned their maiden call-up, they are – Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Matthew Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood. Sibley scored 1,324 runs in the County Championship for Warwickshire and expected to play well. On the other hand, 21-year-old Crawley has earned his place after scoring a whopping 820 runs.

Parkinson is set to give support to Jack Leach while Mahmood has been included as England’s leading wicket-taker James Anderson is still out of contention because of his calf injury.

“James Anderson was unavailable for selection in the test squad as he continues his rehabilitation from a calf injury,” the ECB said in a statement. “The Lancashire seamer will work towards being available for the South Africa tour later this winter.”

Test squad: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Dominic Sibley, Joe Root (Captain), Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Sam Curran and Jack Leach

T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (Captain), Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince