Four uncapped players in England Champions trophy squad

LONDON (Reuters): England named four uncapped players on Thursday in a provisional 30-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales in June.

The selectors included uncapped Yorkshire batsman Gary Ballance, Warwickshire opener Varun Chopra and seamers James Harris and Chris Wright in the squad which will be cut to 15 players by 5 May.

“This is a balanced squad which will provide the selectors with strong options in all areas and reflects players’ performances for both the senior England teams and the England Lions and EPP squads over the winter period,” national selector Geoff Miller said in a statement.

England are hosting the tournament, featuring the best eight one-day international teams playing across 15 matches in 18 days, for the first time since 2004. The opening game will be in Cardiff on 6 June while the final is at Edgbaston on 23 June.

The Squad

Alastair Cook (Captain), James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Varun Chopra, Rikki Clarke, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, James Harris, Craig Kieswetter, Stuart Meaker, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Joe Root, Graeme Swann, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Chris Wright, Luke Wright and Chris Woakes.