England drop Jonny Bairstow, call up Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley for New Zealand Tests

England have dropped Jonny Bairstow from the Test squad for New Zealand, while handing first call-ups to Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley. Bairstow, who averaged 19.45 in Tests this summer, was named in the T20I squad, along with a host of new faces that includes Somerset opener Tom Banton and Pat Brown, the Worcestershire slower-ball specialist.

With Ben Foakes overlooked for the New Zealand tour as well, the decision to leave out Bairstow means Jos Buttler is set to take over as England's first-choice Test wicketkeeper on a tour that falls outside the World Test Championship but which has been earmarked as an important stepping stone for England ahead of their trip to South Africa in December.

"This feels like an opportunity for Jonny to reset," Ed Smith, England's national selector, said. "I think he'll come back stronger from this. He does drop out of the Test squad for these two Tests in New Zealand, which are not part of the World Test Championship, and I predict he'll come back stronger for having had a bit of time away from the Test set-up."

The New Zealand series comes too soon for James Anderson, who recently confirmed his desire to play on despite a calf injury limiting his Ashes involvement. England instead looked to one of Anderson's younger Lancashire team-mates as a seam-bowling option, with Saqib Mahmood included for both legs of the tour.

Of the XI that beat Australia at The Oval earlier this month to secure a 2-2 series draw, Bairstow is the only omission. Jason Roy, who opened the batting in three Tests against Australia before moving down to No. 4 and then being left out to accommodate another allrounder, also misses out, with Surrey team-mate Ollie Pope preferred as a middle-order batting option.

Sibley is rewarded for a breakthrough season in which he has scored 1324 Championship runs - more than anyone else in the country - for Warwickshire, while Crawley, 21, has risen quickly to prominence since his Kent debut at the end of 2017. Jack Leach continues as the lead spin option for the two Tests at the end of November, and with Moeen Ali having confirmed his break from the format, Lancashire legspinner Matt Parkinson is called up for the first time.

Parkinson is also in the T20I squad, from which several regular white-ball picks have been rested in the wake of England's draining World Cup summer. Buttler, Roy, Moeen, Joe Root and Ben Stokes were all overlooked for the five-match series, as the selectors look to candidates from the next generation ahead of next year's T20 World Cup.

Alongside 20-year-old Banton, who finished second in the Vitality Blast run charts and who has attracted global franchise interest for his talent, Brown, whose 31 wickets helped Worcestershire to lift the title last year, and the Lancashire pair of Parkinson and Mahmood, England have called up Somerset allrounder Lewis Gregory for the first time. There is also a return for Sam Billings, who missed the World Cup with a shoulder dislocation.

Sam Curran, uncapped in T20Is, was preferred to David Willey as a left-arm option, while there was no place for Liam Plunkett, who last week expressed his unhappiness at missing out on a central contract.

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince

England Test squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes