After the conclusion of the Test series against West Indies, the availability of the England players has been announced, with Tom Westley ready to return to Specsavers County Championship action this week. Westley is available for the remaining fixtures of the season as the team continue the challenge of clinching the Division One title.
However, Alastair Cook will not be available for the trip to Edgbaston and his availability for the other remaining two games against Hampshire and Yorkshire is still to be confirmed.
Essex’s opposition, Warwickshire, have also been given a boost with Chris Woakes set to feature before joining up with England for the Royal London One-Day Series against West Indies later in the month.
Other England players available to return to their counties in this week’s round of Championship fixtures are Mark Stoneman, Toby Roland-Jones and Mason Crane. All three have been made available for the rest of the season, to Surrey, Middlesex and Hampshire respectively.
Dawid Malan will also be available for Middlesex’s last two fixtures, against Lancashire at Lord’s and Somerset in Taunton, although not for this week’s game against Hampshire in Uxbridge as he heads to Durham for the NatWest International T20 against West Indies next Saturday.
Similarly Liam Dawson and Chris Jordan, who have also been selected for the T20 squad but not for the ODI series, will miss this week’s fixtures but are then available to return for Hampshire and Sussex respectively for the remaining two matches of the season.
James Anderson will take a break after his record-breaking achievements at Lord’s, and will not be available to play in any of Lancashire’s remaining three matches to allow him to begin a slow build-up to the Ashes tour.
Lancashire will also lose Jos Buttler for their remaining three fixtures because of his inclusion in England’s T20 and ODI squads.
Yorkshire lose Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid and David Willey for their remaining three matches, as well as Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, while Surrey lose Tom Curran and Jason Roy.
- Division One | England player availability in September:
Essex – Tom Westley all remaining matches; Alastair Cook – to be confirmed
Hampshire – Mason Crane all remaining matches; Liam Dawson the last 2 (v Essex and Warwickshire).
Lancashire – James Anderson, Jos Buttler unavailable.
Middlesex – Steven Finn, Toby Roland-Jones available all matches; Dawid Malan the last 2 (v Lancashire & Somerset); Eoin Morgan unavailable.
Surrey – Mark Stoneman available all matches; Tom Curran, Jason Roy unavailable.
Warwickshire – Chris Woakes available this week only (v Essex).
Yorkshire – Gary Ballance available all matches; Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, David Willey unavailable.
