England Rest Anderson, Recall Pietersen For India Tour

England Rest Anderson, Recall Pietersen For India Tour

Kevin Pietersen will return to England's squad for the five-match ODI series in India

©Action Images / Paul Thomas

England have named a 15-man squad to tour India for the series of five One-Day Internationals and one Twenty20 International in October, recalling Kevin Pietersen but resting fast bowler James Anderson.

Pietersen was himself rested from the home series against India - which England won 3-0 - but returns to a squad that, missing Stuart Broad and Eoin Morgan through injury, has a significant air of youth about it.

Yorkshire's Jonathan Bairstow, Surrey's Chris Meaker and Durham's Scott Borthwick will all be on their first senior tour while Chris Woakes, Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach make up a young fast bowling attack alongside Meaker and Tim Bresnan.

Uncapped Meaker has spent the last two winters with the Fast Bowling Programme and made his England Lions debut against Sri Lanka earlier this year, and has taken 19 wickets in a 21-game one-day career to date

Off-spinner Graeme Swann will lead the slow bowlers which is complemented by his Nottinghamshire team-mate left-armer Samit Patel and leg-spinner Borthwick with Pietersen on hand to bowl some off-spin if needed.

Injury has also ruled out Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes, who played in the home series but suffered a finger injury that forced him out of the final game of the series, giving Bairstow his chance.

Somerset's Jos Buttler and Nottinghamshire's Alex Hales will join up with the squad ahead of the lone Twenty20 International on 29th October in Kolkata.

"This squad contains an exciting balance of experienced international cricketers along with some very talented younger players who can play the high quality limited overs cricket needed to challenge India," national selector Geoff Miller said.

"A number of injuries and a decision to omit James Anderson in line with our policy of sensibly managing player workloads give opportunities for other very talented players to continue to develop as international cricketers.

"We had a promising One-Day series win over India earlier this month and this squad will be looking forward to the challenge of continuing that success in the sub-continent over the next four weeks.

"The additions to the squad for the Twenty20 fixture will strengthen the squad and provide Jos Buttler and Alex Hales with valuable experience of playing in the sub-continent.

"Stuart Broad is currently undergoing a period of rehabilitation for a shoulder injury however he will join the squad in India if he completes his rehabilitation programme ahead of schedule. Graeme Swann will once again lead the Twenty20 side if Stuart is unable to join the squad."

The tour gets underway when England play a warm-up game in Hyderabad on 8th October.

England ODI squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Jonathan Bairstow, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Scott Borthwick, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Stuart Meaker, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes

Tour Schedule

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