Haseeb Hameed is likely to be selected with the absence of Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales for the Bangladesh tour.
Advertisement
Teenage Lancashire batsman Hameed has been widely touted as Test captain Alastair Cook’s ninth new opening partner since Andrew Strauss’ retirement four years ago.
From Bangladesh, England head straight into a five-Test series in India with no warm-up matches ahead of the second leg of their tour programme.
Opener Hameed, 19, started the season as a relative unknown, but broke into the Lancashire team and has plundered 1,129 runs in the Specsavers County Championship.
“Zafar has great potential both with bat and ball and Gareth’s experience as one of the country’s best slow bowlers and his ability to be effective in subcontinent conditions will be beneficial this winter”.
“After a summer of progress at home across all formats, we can expect another test of our credentials this autumn”, Whitaker said.
Batty, the Surrey captain and Standard Sport columnist, turns 39 on October 13 and is pushing to play his first Test since 2005.
“The challenge we face will be very different and the structure of our squads reflects the conditions we expect to encounter in Bangladesh”. We feel he fully deserves an opportunity to compete for a place at the top of the order in our Test side.
Northamptonshire batsman Ben Duckett, who has been prolific in domestic cricket and scored 163 not out in a one-day game for England Lions against Pakistan A in July, could be named in both Test and ODI squads.
Their absence from an otherwise settled ODI squad means musings on who might replace them in the 50-over top four suddenly became more urgent – and no less imponderable.
He is however, expected to be back in time for the first Test.
European Central Bank also announced today that the former England One-day captain Paul Collingwood and head coach of the England under-19s Andy Hurry will both join the England management team in roles during the ODI series.
Paul Farbrace will take miss the Bangladesh Tests, with Worcestershire coach Steve Rhodes joining the set-up, and Ottis Gibsonm the current fast bowling coach, deputising for Farbrace as Trevor Bayliss’ assistant.
England Test squad for Bangladesh (as predicted by the Telegraph’s Scyld Berry): Alastair Cook (c), Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Mark Wood, Gareth Batty, Zafar Ansari, Ben Duckett.
Advertisement
Following the attack, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sent a fact-finding delegation to Bangladesh led by Reg Dickason, their security officer.
