LONDON, Feb 02 (Agencies): England picked teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed in their white-ball squads for the first time on Thursday ahead of next month's tour of Bangladesh.
The 18-year-old Leicestershire bowler became England's youngest men's Test cricketer against Pakistan in Karachi in December and marked his debut in style with a five-wicket haul.
Ahmed had played just three first-class matches before making his Test bow, but has more experience in white-ball cricket, having appeared regularly for his county side.
Saqib Mahmood has been included in the one-day international squad for the first time since suffering a stress fracture of the back in May last year.
But there was no place for Alex Hales, with the big-hitting batsman set to honour his contract to play in the Pakistan Super League after only returning to England duty last year.
Hales was a key figure in England's T20 World Cup triumph in Australia in November after a positive test for recreational drug use came to light on the eve of the 2019 50-over World Cup led to more than three years of international exile.
Tom Abell, the inventive middle-order batter who captains Somerset, has also been named in both squads and could win his first England cap. Abell will captain England Lions in Sri Lanka this month and has benefited from the absence of several more established players due to a clash with the Pakistan Super League.
Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone remain unavailable due to injury. Bairstow, speaking at the MCC's Cowdrey Lecture on Wednesday night, said "things are tracking in the right direction" after his freakish golfing injury in September, which ruled him out of England's winter. He is due to see a surgeon later this month and has no set return date. Like Livingstone, his Punjab Kings team-mate, he will hope to be fit enough to play in IPL 2023.
England will play three ODIs and three T20s in Bangladesh from March 01 to 14.
The T20 fixtures are their first in the format since Jos Buttler's men became world champions, adding to their 50-over global title.
The ODI leg of the tour is part of the ICC's Super League, the qualification process for the 2023 World Cup, though both teams have already confirmed their spots. More pertinently, it is England's final away series before the World Cup, and offers preparation in subcontinental conditions against a Bangladesh side who are unbeaten in their last seven home ODI series.
Squads ODI: Jos Buttler (Lancashire, capt/wkt), Tom Abell (Somerset), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Sam Curran (Surrey), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Reece Topley (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)
T20: Buttler, Abell, Ahmed, Ali, Archer, Curran, Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Will Jacks (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Malan, Rashid, Salt, Topley, Woakes, Wood
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