England confirm Dom Bess as No 1 spinner in 13-man squad for West Indies series

Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali have been left out of England’s squad for the Test series against West Indies.

England have named a 13-man squad for the first Test, which begins on Wednesday, as well as nine reserves. The squad does not include Joe Root, who will miss the first Test with his wife due to give birth, so Ben Stokes will become England’s 81st Test-match captain. Joe Denly and Zak Crawley have both been included and will both play, as Telegraph Sport reported last week, while Dom Bess is the sole spinner selected.

Ed Smith, the national selector, said that Stokes was “very focused and really looking forward to the challenge” of captaincy. “He has been very interested in everything to do with the team and has played a full and active part in all discussions about planning for the upcoming game,” he added.

Bairstow and Moeen, who have played 70 and 60 Tests respectively, were both omitted from the group entirely, an indication that they are some way short of being in England’s best Test team in home conditions.

Moeen did not make himself available for England’s winter tour commitments but has been usurped as the No 1 off-spinner by Bess, who claimed five for 51 in his last Test in South Africa. Bairstow averages only 23.03 in his past 18 Tests, going back to the start of the 2018 summer.

Both players are certain to be in the one-day international squad named later this month for the three games against Ireland which begin on July 30, which was a factor in their omissions from the extended group.

“With Moeen and Jonny obviously part of the calculation is that they have been in the white-ball squad and been very good performers in white-ball cricket,” said Smith. “If they’re not in the XI here obviously it’s good that they’re playing cricket in the white-ball team.

“When Covid-19 caused a suspension of cricket, Jos Buttler was the man in possession – still is the man in possession – and has our full support as England’s wicketkeeper-batsman. And Ben Foakes was the deputy on the tour of Sri Lanka. That’s where it is today.”

One of the top four will miss out should Root return, as expected, for the second Test.

Smith said that “my expectation is that Joe Denly will retain the No 3 spot and Zak Crawley will bat four”, suggesting that Denly – who is valued for his top-order grit despite an underwhelming average of 30 from his 14 Tests – remains ahead of Crawley.

“Since moving to a slight shift of plan for this winter, the England team has batted with more consistency and solidity throughout the order and Joe Denly has been a big part of that,” said Smith. “As a top-order batter, he would obviously love to convert those starts into hundreds and big hundreds. That goes for any batsman. But also it is fully understood that he has contributed to good team batting performances.”

England have all their main fast bowlers fully fit for the first Test, so two of James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are likely to miss out – unless, as is unlikely, England omit Bess. At this stage, Woakes and Wood seem the most likely duo to be omitted from the 13-man squad but, with the three Tests back-to-back, all quick bowlers can expect to play at some stage.

Sam Curran, who pulled out of the intra-squad warm-up halfway through due to a Covid-19 scare – he has since tested negative – was left out of the 13-man squad despite having played in England’s past seven Tests. Curran has averaged 20.20 with the bat and 33.26 with the ball in this run, contributing in patches without replicating his impact in 2018. His lack of match practice was a factor in his omission but, as one of the nine reserves and with the pace bowling group likely to be rotated, Curran could yet feature in Test cricket this summer.

The nine reserves confirm James Bracey’s fine recent impression; he made 85 in last week’s warm-up and England have marked him out as a cricketer capable of batting in the Test top three. Bracey is now effectively the fifth choice member of England’s top three, after Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Denly and Crawley.

Smith said that picking the squad had been a “unique” challenge, though he said that recent performances by England Lions – notably the first-class victory over Australia A – had made the task easier. He believes that the depth in English cricket is greater than at any point since he took over his role two years ago.

“You want it to be the case that there are more players you want to select than there are places in the team,” he said. “We’re moving towards that point now in Test cricket, where a lot of the conversations are around, you know, it’s hard to leave that guy out. And that’s what we want. It applies both to the squad of 13 and the final XI.”