Cook To Lead England; Shahzad, Carberry Called Up

Cook To Lead England; Shahzad, Carberry Called Up

England's next Test captain: Alastair Cook

©REUTERS/Philip Brown (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Alastair Cook will captain England for their Test and One-Day International tour of Bangladesh in February and March while Paul Collingwood will captain his country for a Twenty20 tour of the United Arab Emirates that includes two internationals against world champions Pakistan.

Andrew Strauss and James Anderson have been rested for the tour of Bangladesh while Michael Carberry, Ajmal Shahzad and James Tredwell are named in England's Test squad while Shahzad and Tredwell are both in England's ODI squad.

Hampshire batsman Carberry and Kent off-spinner Tredwell were both added to England's Test squad in South Africa due to injuries while Yorkshire fast bowler Shahzad earns a call-up for the first time after impressing during his time with the England Performance Squad (EPP).

“Andrew Strauss has provided outstanding leadership for the team in both forms of the game over the past 12 months and the selectors feel it is important that he takes a break ahead of an extremely busy programme of international cricket leading up to and including the Ashes series in Australia and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011," national selector Geoff Miller said.

“Our decision to appoint Alastair Cook to the Test vice captaincy last year clearly demonstrated the belief that he has the potential to be a future England captain. Alastair will now have an opportunity to develop his leadership skills still further by leading the side in both forms of cricket in Bangladesh and I know that he is excited by the challenge and looking forward to working closely with Andy Flower.

“Paul Collingwood had an excellent tour of South Africa in all forms of cricket and he will continue to lead the side in the T20 format with the two T20 Internationals against the current World champions Pakistan providing excellent preparation for us ahead of the World T20 in the Caribbean.

“We are delighted to welcome Ajmal Shahzad to both squads for the first time. He enjoyed an excellent season with Yorkshire last year, made a strong impression while he was in South Africa with the EPP squad and is a bowler with the potential to make a real impact in international cricket. 

“James Tredwell and Michael Carberry have also continued to impress the selectors over the course of the winter and we expect both players to make a strong challenge for inclusion in our starting line-up on the forthcoming tour. “

England Test squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Michael Carberry, Paul Collingwood, Steven Davies, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Prior, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright

England ODI squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Matthew Prior, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Ryan Sidebottom, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright

© Cricket World 2010

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