England rest Moeen for T20Is versus Windies, Curran named as replacement

It’s a massive year of international cricket for England, who have a home ICC Cricket World Cup to contend with – a tournament they’re expected to compete for honours after some impressive performances in ODI cricket in recent years – before an Ashes series later in the English summer.

England have therefore taken the decision to rest a few of their multi-format players for the T20I leg of their tour of the Caribbean. It had already been confirmed that all-rounder Ben Stokes and wicket-keeper-batsman Jos Buttler would sit out the three T20I matches, and now Moeen will follow suit.

The England trio will all feature for their respective IPL franchises in March and they will fly home after the fifth and final ODI encounter against the Windies on Sunday for a few week’s rest prior to travelling to India.

Sam Curran, the younger of the two Curran brothers, will also feature in the IPL for the first time in 2019, having penned a lucrative deal with Kings XI Punjab.

The Surrey starlet has played nine Tests and two ODIs for England – he was named England’s player of the series during last summer’s Test series versus India – but is yet to be capped in the game’s most abridged form.