Alastair Cook left out of England's ICC World Twenty20 squad
Cook has to prove he can be a Twenty20 player
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 01, Mar 2010 02:52
by Sam Ross.
Temporary England captain Alastair Cook has been left out of the squad for the ICC World Twenty20, which starts next month in the West Indies.
Cook, currently standing in for rested Andrew Strauss, is not considered a Twenty20 player by national selector Geoff Miller despite his recent performance in the one day international series against Bangladesh on Sunday.
Miller said: "The message is that originally we said we didn't think Alastair was a Twenty20 player - and we still stick by that.
"He has to prove us wrong. He's played very well out here [in Bangladesh] - and if he can carry his career into that area then we'll reassess. But at the moment we don't see him as a Twenty20 player, and that's why he's not in."
The provisional 30-man squad is set to be halved on March 30th but includes five uncapped players - Steven Finn (Middlesex), Michael Lumb (Hampshire), Peter Trego (Somerset), David Wainwright (Yorkshire) and Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
Miller is keen to give inexperienced players a chance but admits the decision to reduce the squad will be a difficult one.
"All players named have shown their ability in the shortest form of the game and the selectors have some difficult decisions to make when reducing the squad to 15 players," he said.
"We have a number of young players knocking on the door which underlines the depth in talent currently available and I know all concerned will be hoping they make the final squad for what is a highly anticipated tournament."