LONDON: Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler will be rested for England’s Twenty20 International series against the West Indies, selectors announced on Thursday.

Wicket-keeper/batsman Sam Billings and batsman Dawid Malan return to the 14-man squad for the first time since last year’s tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Stokes and Buttler were both involved in the Test series in the West Indies and are playing in the ongoing One-day International series which ends on March 2.

Jason Roy will miss the series to return home for the birth of his first child after the final One-day International.

The T20 series starts on March 5 at Gros Islet in St Lucia with further games scheduled for St Kitts on March 8 and March 10.

England, who lost the recent Test series against the West Indies 2-1, are 1-0 up in the five-match ODI series after beating the hosts by six wickets in Barbados on Wednesday.

England face a packed schedule in 2019, including a World Cup on home soil and a home Ashes series.

Squad: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, David Willey, Mark Wood.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2019