Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer rested for England's Test series in Sri Lanka

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England plan to allow leading players — including Jos Buttler — to miss some of the four-Test series in India as part of attempts to safeguard player welfare during the arduous winter schedule. England named a 16-man squad for the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, which precedes the multi-format tour of India. As expected, both Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes are rested from the Sri Lanka tour. Jonny Bairstow earns a recall — and is likely to bat at number three, where he made a century in England’s last Test in Sri Lanka in 2018 — while Moeen Ali also returns to the fold. Rory Burns will not feature as his wife is due to give birth. Seven reserves will also travel with the touring party. Ed Smith, England’s national selector, confirmed that England were planning to take the unprecedented step of naming a different squad for the first and second sections of the tour to India, with the management conscious of the need to protect players’ mental health as the demands of bubble life take their toil. “So for example players like Ben Stokes jofra Archer and Jos Butler are going to have a period of rest at some point during the Sri Lanka and India tours,” Smith said. “It made sense for Ben to take his rest to the Sri Lanka tour and to get ready for India. “I spoke to 20 players yesterday about selection for Sri Lanka. And we also mapped out an individualised programme for every player. So we told them with total clarity about the Sri Lanka situation, and also we were just able to guide them a little bit about what we think is coming up for them. Of course we know in cricket things can change but we identified some some gaps where some people will have a bit of time off and some rest.” With Ollie Pope still recovering from a shoulder injury, Dan Lawrence is likely to slot in to bat at five. Smith confirmed that Buttler would retain the wicketkeeping gloves, rather than be selected as a specialist batsman, with Ben Foakes — who scored a century in Test debut in Sri Lanka in 2018 — selected as the deputy. Adil Rashid remains unavailable for Test selection as he manages his ongoing shoulder issue. England squad: J Root (c), M Ali, J Anderson, J Bairstow, D Bess, S Broad, J Buttler, Z Crawley, S Curran, B Foakes, D Lawrence, J Leach, D Sibley, O Stone, C Woakes, M Wood. Reserves: J Bracey, M Crane, S Mahmood, C Overton, M Parkinson, O Robinson, A Virdi.

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