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Few surprises in first England squad of second Moores era

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AFP London
England's first squad since Peter Moores was re-appointed as head coach saw a new-look selection panel opt for several familiar faces when they unveiled a 13-man party for next week's one-day international away to Scotland.

Nottinghamshire left-arm seamer Harry Gurney was the only uncapped player selected for the match in Aberdeen on May 9, although he did tour the West Indies with England earlier this year.

Meanwhile two relative international novices in batsmen Moeen Ali and Gary Ballance yesterday retained their places in a squad again captained by opener Alastair Cook.

This was the first squad chosen by the new England selection panel headed up by former Test batsman James Whitaker that also includes Moores, Middlesex coach Angus Fraser and Nottinghamshire boss Mick Newell.
 

However, that didn't do a number of players at both counties any favour with Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn, back in the wickets in County Championship cricket after a wretched tour of Australia, left out of this squad.

So too were Nottinghamshire batsmen Alex Hales and Michael Lumb, even though the former made England's first Twenty20 hundred during the recent World Twenty20 in Bangladesh and the latter a hundred on his ODI debut in February.

Their county colleague Gurney was one of just three specialist seamers included alongside veteran paceman James Anderson, called up for one-day duty for the first time since the 2013 season in England, and Sussex's Chris Jordan.

Stuart Broad continues to be sidelined with a knee injury while Tim Bresnan has yet to play first-team cricket for Yorkshire this season.

All-rounder Ben Stokes is still out with the broken wrist he suffered punching a dressing-room locker in the Caribbean and his absence has paved the way for a recall of Chris Woakes.

The batting had a more settled look with Cook supported by several seasoned internationals in Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Joe Root, who showed he'd recovered from a thumb injury playing for Yorkshire against Middlesex this week.

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First Published: May 02 2014 | 10:04 AM IST

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