James Taylor announced as England captain for Ireland ODI; six uncapped players included

James Taylor will captain England in the upcoming ODI against Ireland

England have announced their squad for the one-off One-Day International (ODI) against Ireland in Dublin on May 8. With England’s ongoing Test series against the West Indies ending only three days earlier, on May 5, it’s no surprise that a number of first-choice players have been excluded with the squad featuring as many as six uncapped players: Jason Roy, James Vince, David Willey, Sam Billings, Zafar Ansari and Lewis Gregory. The side will be captained by middle-order batsman James Taylor, who was part of the side that was a huge disappointment at the recent World Cup.

With the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) having named only 11 players for the game as of now, a few non-participating players from the Caribbean tour could be added to provide cover in case of injury.

As mentioned earlier, the squad boasts of a youthful, albeit inexperienced, look with only 3 players – Taylor, Alex Hales and Steven Finn – that were part of the World Cup squad being included here.

With places in the England limited-overs set-up likely to be up for grabs after crashing out of cricket’s showpiece event at the group stages, this is a wonderful opportunity for some of these players to step up to the plate and make a case for inclusion even when the senior players are available.

England squad: James Taylor (capt), Zafar Ansari, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Sam Billings, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn, Lewis Gregory, Alex Hales, Jason Roy, James Vince, David Willey