The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced a 17-man England squad for the upcoming Ashes 2021-22 series to be played in Australia from December 8th onwards.
After much deliberation and doubt whether the tour will take place in the first place owing to the strict COVID protocols and quarantine rules in Australia and non-consensus over England players’ families traveling down under for Christmas and New Year, finally both the cricket boards were able to come on the same page and confirm the series was on.
Chris Silverwood will be the head coach of the England team which will be captained by Joe Root. 10 of the selected 17 players will be touring Australia in an Ashes series for the first time, including vice-captain Jos Buttler.
However two of their star all-rounders Ben Stokes and Sam Curran have not been named as Stokes is still on his mental health break, while Curran recently suffered a lower back injury.
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Jonny Bairstow, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Ollie Pope, Dan Lawrence, and Dawid Malan have been named in the batting department. Dom Bess and Jack Leach are the two spinners in the squad as well.
Stuart Broad, Craig Overton, James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood are the fast bowlers named in the England squad for the Ashes 2021-22.
ECB also revealed that Stuart Broad, who is to embark on his fourth Ashes tour, is making excellent progress from his torn right calf sustained in the summer during the Test series against India. He is set to return to bowling at The ECB Performance Centre in Loughborough, where the Ashes and Lions squads will prepare for the Australia tour.
The first Ashes Test will begin on Dec 8 in Brisbane, the second Test will be played in Adelaide from Dec 16 which will be a pink-ball, D/N test. The third Test will be played from Dec 26 in Melbourne, while the fourth and fifth Tests will begin from Jan 6 in Sydney and Jan 14 in Perth respectively.
England Ashes 2021-22 squad:
Joe Root (C), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
