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England men's managing director, Rob Key, opened up about the omission of Jonny Bairstow from the squad and the inclusion of young wicketkeeper batter Jamie Smith in their squad for the Test series against West Indies.
England announced their squad for the three-match Test series against West Indies, which will kick off on July 10. Apart from the first Test being ageless pacer James Anderson's final game of his illustrious international career, there have been a lot of talking points about the Three Lions' squad. There were a couple of surprise omissions from the squad, with Bairstow and Ben Foakes missing out, while youngster Smith got an opportunity to receive his maiden Test call-up. Smith struck a hundred for Surrey against Essex in County Championships on Sunday as he gears up for his maiden appearance for the Three Lions in red ball cricket. Bairstow has been struggling to put up a string of strong performances for England recently. He struck four centuries and amassed 681 runs at a rate of 96.59 and an average of 75.66. However, after that string of performances, he has struggled to put up runs and live up to his reputation. During England's five-match Test series against India earlier this year, he scored 238 runs at an average of 23.80. "Jonny just needs to get back to what he was a couple of years ago," Key said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo. Ben Foakes has taken the role behind the stumps on numerous occasions but missed out on the call-up. Key explained the reason behind his exclusion from the squad and said, "Ben Foakes is an excellent keeper, his keeping's not in question at all. But we want someone who can just up the ante at times when required. We feel that he can soak up pressure, and when he's batting with a batsman at the other end, he's more than capable. But his challenge is to bring that other side to his game." While talking about Jamie's inclusion, Key stated that the management feels he could be a player who can bring in both aspects of batting - defensive and aggression in their upcoming Test series against the Caribbean side. "It's not just about having one or the other. We want someone who can have both those forms of batting, and we feel that Jamie Smith can do that," he said. "Sometimes you're selecting people for what they're going to be and where you think they can progress to. We've been watching Jamie Smith for quite some time. He was on the Lions a couple of years ago when I watched him out in Sri Lanka, and he looks a rare talent," he added. Squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes. (ANI)
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