England have rested Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes for the three-match Twenty20 International series that gets underway on March 5 in St Lucia while hard-hitting batsmen Sam Billings and Dawid Malan have been included in the 14-man squad. “Sam is a very talented cricketer who hits the ball as hard as anyone,” Ed Smith, the national selector said. “But he’s been in a position where he’s been picked up by franchises but then not always been playing. And he’s been in England squads but not always been playing. So last summer we took a view that we didn’t want him to be in a squad and not playing. So we left him out so he could play for Kent and he captained them to a Lord’s final and promotion. He then played both legs of full Lions tours before and after Christmas and I think that will have been a good thing for him. He has considerable ability. Dawid would love an England career across all three formats. It’s just a question of where the opportunities come and, when he has played T20, he has grabbed his chances.” Jason Roy, who setup England’s six-wicket win in the first ODI in Barbados with a swashbuckling 123 at the top of the order will also be absent from the three T20Is as he flies home for the birth of his first child after the final ODI. There were also murmurs that Stokes and Buttler have been rested from the side keeping in mind their hectic schedule in 2019 which includes the IPL that starts from March 23 and the World Cup followed by the Ashes. The first T20I will be played in St. Lucia before the teams travel to Basseterre, in St Kitts for the second and third outings. England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), 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 Daily Times, February 22nd 2019.