England announce squad for Bangladesh

England have included Gareth Batty, Ben Duckett, Haseeb Hameed and Zafar Ansari in their 17-man squad for the Test series against Bangladesh.

Lancashire opener Hameed, 19, is expected to replace Alex Hales as captain Alastair Cook’s opening partner for the two-Test series which begins on 20 October.

Surrey captain Batty, 38, who played his last Test against Bangladesh in 2005, is one of four spinners included alongside Surrey’s Ansari, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.

Yorkshire’s Joe Root will be rested for the three one-day internationals, which begin in Dhaka on 7 October, before joining the Test squad.

Hameed’s selection comes on the back of his superb form with the Red Rose this season, having racked up 1,154 runs in 15 Specsavers County Championship Division One matches at an average of 52.45.

National selector James Whitaker told ecb.co.uk: ‘Haseeb Hameed, for someone so young, has had an impressive season in the Specsavers County Championship with Lancashire.

‘He has been a consistent performer and his four centuries, against some of the best bowling attacks in the country, are testament to his outstanding temperament and attitude.

‘We feel he fully deserves an opportunity to compete for a place at the top of the order in our Test side.’

Whitaker added: ‘After a summer of progress at home across all formats, we can expect another test of our credentials this autumn.

The challenge we face will be very different and the structure of our squads reflects the conditions we expect to encounter in Bangladesh.

‘We are excited about the qualities that Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty bring to the squad. 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.’

The second ODI will also take place in Dhaka, on 9 October, before the final one is held in Chittagong three days later.

England will then welcome back Root to the squad for the two Test matches, with the first set to begin in Chittagong on October 20 and the second scheduled eight days later in Dhaka.

Lancashire’s Jos Buttler will captain the ODI squad in the absence of Eoin Morgan, who made himself unavailable for selection due to safety concerns.

Cook will travel to Bangladesh a week earlier than the rest of the Test squad but will return home, missing the two warm-up matches on 14 and 16 October, in order to return home for the birth of his second child. He is however, expected to be back in time for the first Test.

England Test squad: Alastair Cook (Essex) captain, Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Zafar Ansari (Surrey), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Gareth Batty (Surrey), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Ben Duckett (Northamptonshire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Haseeb Hameed (Lancashire) Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)

One-Day International squad: Jos Buttler (Lancashire) captain, Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Ben Duckett (Northamptonshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Vince (Hampshire)
David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)