Sunday, February 14, 2016

Liam Dawson the only New Face in England's 15 Man Squad for the WT20 2016

England announced their 15 man squad that will take part in the ICC World Twenty20 2016 to be held in March-April in India from next month. There were not many surprises in their squad which comprised of just one uncapped player – Liam Dawson, a slow left arm orthodox spinner from Hampshire.

Eoin Morgan will be in charge of a youthful and energetic side, featuring peppy young players, all of whom are known for their fearless brand of cricket, a far cry from the days when England looked lost in the shorter formats of the game. The most notable omission from the squad was Kevin Pietersen, whose inclusion might in any case have been a long shot, considering his squabbles with the English board and Andrew Strauss, once a team-mate of Pietersen and now the Director of England Cricket.

Their batting will be led by the exuberant Jason Roy and Alex Hales who will be well supported by the next big thing in English Cricket, Jos Buttler. Captain Eoin Morgan and Joe Root will take care of the middle order while the hard hitting and high impact all-rounder’s Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali will be expected to provide the finishing touches to the massacre. They also have Sam Billings and James Vince as a back up to these established players and both of them are playing in the PSL which will certainly stand them in good stead with regards to the conditions that can be expected in India.

There is plenty of flair in the bowling department as well even with the omission of Stuart Broad who was a part of their victorious campaign in the West Indies in 2010. The two left arm bowlers who are currently doing very well for them in the ongoing ODI series against the Protea’s, David Willey and Reece Topley are both there in addition to Steve Finn whose pace will give England plenty of room to work with.

The spin bowling department, which was once their Achilles heel, is also brimming with a lot of talent and flair. There is the leg spinner, Adil Rashid, who after a brilliant Big Bash League is continuing his splendid form in the ODI matches against the South Africans. Then there is Moeen Ali, a very under rated off break bowler but perfectly capable of picking up wickets with his guile and variations. Then there is the uncapped Liam Dawson, a slow left arm orthodox bowling all-rounder who has done very well recently with the England Lions team.

It is a very competent 15 man squad that the English have announced with plenty of impact players and they will also have the assistance of Paul Collingwood (the 2010 WT20 winning captain for England) and Mahela Jayawardena (Former Sri Lankan batsmen and captain who was a part of the WT20 winning team in the last edition), both of whom will certainly lend plenty of advice on batting and the Indian conditions in general.

England WT20 2016 Squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) (Captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Hampshire), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire)

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

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