England pick Tymal Mills, Chris Woakes for T20 World Cup

Fast-bowlers Tymal Mills and Chris Woakes have been included in England's 15-man preliminary squad for the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman but as expected there is no place for Ben Stokes who was not considered for selection. There is no place in the squad either for Joe Root, England's Test captain.

Squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Reserves: Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, James Vince

Mills last played international cricket in February 2016 but has been included on the back of some excellent performances for Sussex in the T20 Blast and Southern Brave, the inaugural winners of The Hundred. Captain Eoin Morgan namechecked Mills earlier in the summer as a player who could make a late run for the squad given the skills he offers. His pace, left-arm angle and ability to bowl at the death saw Mills squeeze out Tom Curran, who is named as one of the three travelling reserves.

"Tymal Mills deserves his inclusion and has demonstrated over the past couple of years, but particularly this summer that he has all skills to succeed at this level," Chris Silverwood, head coach, said. "His exceptional pace is a standout, and the way he has spearheaded Sussex and Southern Brave's respective attacks in the short-form game has shown that he relishes the pressures of the big stage. He will add variety to our bowling unit, and we can't wait to see him play in a major international tournament."

Woakes played in the T20I series against Sri Lanka earlier this summer, his first T20 action for England since November 2015, and did well, conceding 3.28 runs an over across his two matches. Even so, his inclusion is somewhat of a surprise given Morgan's long-standing faith in Curran. But Woakes's ability to bowl in the Powerplay, as he does in ODI cricket, is an asset, particularly in the absence of Jofra Archer, who had already been ruled out of the rest of the year as he looks to recover from an elbow injury.

There are three left-arm fast-bowlers in the squad. Mills is joined by Sam Curran and David Willey. Willey's inclusion is particularly pleasing because he missed out on the 2019 50-over World Cup squad at the last moment, having been a key member of the team for the previous four years. Willey's form with the ball this year in both ODI and T20I cricket has been strong while he also offers a useful lower order batting option. Mark Wood and Chris Jordan are the other fast-bowlers included.

The batting has a familiar look to it with the world's number one ranked T20I batsman Dawid Malan included alongside Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy. Sam Billings has been chosen as the back-up batsman in the squad while Liam Livingstone's inclusion was a formality after his barnstorming summer in white-ball cricket for England and Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred. James Vince has been selected as one of the three reserves.

The absence of Stokes was expected. He is currently on an indefinite break from cricket for wellbeing reasons and has played just three ODIs, against Pakistan, this summer. Indications are that Stokes is unlikely to be part of the Ashes squad this winter either. Root's omission is not much of a surprise either. He has not been part of England's T20 plans for a while and last played a T20I match in the summer of 2019.

Despite the likely spin friendly nature of the conditions in the UAE, England have picked just two frontline spinners in the squad in Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid although Livingstone also bowls spin and has been used regularly by Morgan in his appearances to date. Slow left-armer Liam Dawson was preferred over young Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson as one of the reserves. Curran and Vince are the other two.

England have until October 10th to finalise their squad. They will play two T20Is in Pakistan at the Rawalpindi International Stadium on 14 and 15 October and then two warm-up matches in the UAE to prepare for the tournament. "We are excited about the prospect of challenging to win the ICC T20 World Cup," Silverwood said. "I believe we have selected a squad that covers all bases and has the depth to be successful in what is expected to be a very competitive tournament featuring the best players in the world."