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Key duo left out as England enter new white-ball era

JONNY BAIRSTOW and Moeen Ali could have played their last games for England after being dropped in a shake-up of the white-ball set-up, which was announced today.

Matthew Mott was sacked as head coach of the limited-overs side last month after disappointing title defences in the ODI and T20 World Cups and the appetite for change has continued with the removal of two senior men sharing over 400 caps for the forthcoming series against Australia.

Five uncapped players have been called up for Marcus Trescothick’s first assignment as interim coach, with left-arm seamer Josh Hull, all-rounder Jacob Bethell and pace bowler John Turner selected in both formats, while Dan Mousley and Jordan Cox come into the T20 reckoning.

Moeen has been an influential vice-captain to Jos Buttler in recent times but is now 37 and has acknowledged in the past that his international career was winding down. His role as a spin bowling all-rounder will be covered by his Warwickshire teammates Bethell and Mousley.

Bairstow turns 35 next month but there is no such sense that he is ready to bring the curtain down on his England days. He was an integral part of the white-ball revolution that carried the side to World Cup glory in 2019, and scored back-to-back centuries against India and New Zealand in must-win games at that tournament.

Chris Jordan has also been moved on while Liam Livingstone has retained his T20 spot but misses out on the 50-over matches.

No red-ball regulars have been considered for the three-match T20 series which starts in Hampshire the day after the final Test against Sri Lanka, though Hull and Cox are involved despite being part of Brendon McCullum’s squad.

Harry Brook, Gus Atkinson, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith and Matthew Potts will take a short break before joining up with Trescothick’s ODI team for the five-match series.

Joe Root is not included but the PA news agency understands his omission is simply a case of workload management ahead of a busy winter.

Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood are all out injured but Saqib Mahmood, who conquered his own long-term fitness issues to play a starring role in the Hundred final, returns.

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