Who’s heading for the Windies?

Trott returns and Lyth, Rashid and Wood all win places in
England’s West Indies tour party.

The England selectors have announced a 16-man squad captained by Alastair Cook for the three-match Test series in the West Indies which starts next month. The Warwickshire batsman Jonathan Trott, who captained England Lions on their recent tour of South Africa, returns to the squad after an 18-month absence from the international scene. There are also three uncapped players in the squad: Yorkshire duo Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid (two of six Yorkshire players in the tour party) and the Durham pace bowler Mark Wood.

Chris Woakes has been ruled out of the West Indies tour through injury but is expected to be available for selection when England take on New Zealand in a two-match Investec Test series at home in May. Moeen Ali has not been included in the official tour party as he is recovering from a side strain. The selectors will continue to monitor his recovery and rehabilitation and may consider including him in the squad for the latter stages of the tour.

Commenting on the squad, National Selector James Whitaker said: “This series marks the start of a busy period of Test Match cricket for the England team and I am sure that Alastair and the players will all be keen to build on the success they enjoyed last summer against India. Jonathan Trott produced some outstanding performances for Warwickshire last summer scoring five centuries and also made an unbeaten double hundred during the recent successful England Lions tour. He is a player of proven international pedigree and we are delighted to welcome him back into the squad. Adam, Adil and Mark are all players who have performed impressively over the last 12 months and they will now have an opportunity to push for a regular place in the Test side’s starting line-up.”

England Test squad:
Alastair Cook (Essex) captain
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Gary Ballance (Yorkshire)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Chris Jordan (Sussex)
Adam Lyth (Yorkshire)
Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Ben Stokes (Durham)
James Tredwell (Kent)
Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)
Mark Wood (Durham)

England’s Tour Itinerary:
April 6-7 – 2-day warm-up, St Kitts
April 8-9 – 2-day warm-up, St Kitts
April 13-17 – 1st Test SVRS, Antigua
April 21-25 – 2nd Test Grenada National Stadium, Grenada
May 1-5 – 3rd Test Kensington Oval, Barbados