Ben Stokes is set to lead the England side in the upcoming series against Pakistan. Seven members of the England team who were part of the squad in the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka have tested positive for COVID-19.
The entire England squad has gone into isolation and the ECB has announced a completely new squad with 9 new faces. Ben Stokes who was out of the recent fixtures due to an injury has been given the captaincy role.
“We have been mindful that the emergence of the Delta variant, along with our move away from the stringent enforcement of biosecure environments, could increase the chances of an outbreak,” said Tom Harrison, CEO of ECB.
“We made a strategic choice to try to adapt protocols, in order to support the overall wellbeing of our players and management staff who have spent much of the last 14 months living in very restricted conditions. Overnight we have worked swiftly to identify a new squad, and we are grateful to Ben Stokes who will return to England duties to Captain.”
“For most of the players selected it’s not necessarily something they would have been expecting 24 hours ago,” said Giles. “It’s an exciting group of players, with some young talent and some players who have impressed at a domestic level over a long period of time.
“We’re in unprecedented territory, in terms of replacing an entire squad and management team, and I’m very proud of how everyone has come together in order to get it done both those within the ECB and from the county game.”
England squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Jake Ball, Danny Briggs, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Lewis Gregory, Tom Helm, Will Jacks, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Matt Parkinson, David Payne, Phil Salt, John Simpson, James Vince
