Newly appointed England coach Trevor Bayliss England announced Ashes squad for first Test comprising of 13 men.
The first Ashes Test will begin on July 8 in Cardiff and Trevor Bayliss has made his mark to being his tenure as English coach when England announced Ashes squad for first Test. He has included leg spinner Adil Rashid in the squad and has also recalled fast bowler Steven Finn in the 13 men group.
27 year old Adil Rashid played the ODI series against New Zealand recently and picked 4 wickets in the first match and also made a crucial 50 in the same match. Trevor Bayliss said,“We want to give ourselves the option to play two spinners – if we get down there and the conditions suit two spinners then we’ve got the option.”
He further added,“I obviously watched a lot of the one-day series on TV and he played very, very well so it does give us an option of being able to spin the ball both ways (with Moeen Ali’s off-spin)”.
Trevor Bayliss took over as coach of England last Friday.
The selection of Steven Finn is also seen as a surprise move since the bowler has not played a Test in 2 years. Bayliss said,”During the one-day series he looked like he was back on song and bowling well,” He further added. “He’ll be there as a back-up to the guys who have come off a good series against New Zealand in case something happens to one of those guys.”
Trevor Bayliss officially started as England coach last Friday and that has given him 12 days to prepare for the Ashes opener in Cardiff. As a part of his duty was to take his charges to Spain, where they have been bonding at the Desert Springs golf resort in Almeria, where fancy dress quiz nights and golf were high on the team’s agenda, as well as training at the cricket facilities available at the resort.
England squad for first Ashes Test:
Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Balance, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood.
