England recall Foakes, Jennings for Sri Lanka tour, Anderson rested

England’s Keaton Jennings celebrates with his teammate Ben Foakes after taking the catch to dismiss Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne (not pictured) - Reuters

Reuters: England have recalled batsman Keaton Jennings and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes for next month’s two-test tour of Sri Lanka while fast bowler James Anderson remains sidelined with a rib injury, the country’s cricket board (ECB) announced.

Foakes has played five tests for England, making his debut against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2018 while Jennings, who has two centuries in the sub-continent, was last involved in their tour of West Indies last year.

England, who won the four-match test series 3-1 in South Africa last month, also made the decision to rest Anderson so he would be available for the English summer when they host West Indies.

“The South Africa tour marked the emergence of a very exciting group of young players, creating a nice balance with an experienced core of senior players,” national selector Ed Smith said in a statement here

“That squad is mostly retained, with some tweaks to the squad relevant to injury, rest and the challenges of playing in sub-continent conditions.”

Jonny Bairstow has been rested and injured pacer Jofra Archer was left out while spinner Moeen Ali was unavailable for test selection.

“Jonny Bairstow has been in England squads across the three formats without a significant break. This two-test tour presents a good opportunity for Jonny to be rested,” Smith added.

Sri Lanka host England in two matches in Galle (19-23 March) and Colombo (27-31 March), with the series forming a part of the ICC World Test Championship. England are third in the points table behind India and Australia while Sri Lanka are fifth.

England squad: Joe Root (captain), Keaton Jennings, Joe Denly, Ben Stokes, Dom Bess, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope, Jack Leach, Jos Buttler, Dominic Sibley, Stuart Broad, Ben Foakes, Chris Woakes, Matthew Parkinson, Mark Wood.