Ashes 2019: Moeen Ali dropped from squad for Lord’s Test

England have dropped Moeen Ali from the squad for the second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord’s. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach has replaced the all-rounder in the squad. Jofra Archer is also likely to make his Test debut after being named in the 12-man squad. Sam Curran, too, is included and it will be interesting to see whether England decide to call upon the services of the all-rounder.

ICYMI: We have announced a 12-man squad for the second #Ashes Test

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 9, 2019

Ali was dropped after a string of poor performances with the bat. He has four ducks to his name in his last eight Test innings. With the ball too, he was overshadowed by the brilliance of Nathan Lyon in Edgbaston. Ali’s poor contribution in the match led to England losing the contest by 251 runs. Joe Denly keeps his place in the squad despite calls to drop the middle-order batsman.

James Anderson was also not included after he failed to recover from a calf injury. Pacer Olly Stone, the latest victim of England’s injury crisis also misses out.

The second Test of the series will begin on August 14 at Lord’s, with Australia leading by a scoreline of 1-0.

Squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes