Cook to captain England in Bangladesh

Johannesburg:

Alastair Cook will captain England on their tour of Bangladesh next month while regular captain Andrew Strauss will be rested.

England's Test and one-day international squads were announced in Johannesburg on Monday at the end of a tour of South Africa during which Strauss led England to a win in a one-day series and a share of a Test series.

The England selectors resisted calls from former England captains Mike Atherton, David Gower and Nasser Hussain for Strauss to lead the side in Bangladesh.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced last September that some senior players would be rested from the Bangladesh tour in order to manage their workload and it was suggested at the time that Strauss would be one of those to sit out.

The only other member of the Test side against South Africa who will miss the tour is fast bowler James Anderson who will undergo rehabilitation for a chronic right knee injury.

Three uncapped players - Hampshire batsman Michael Carberry, Yorkshire fast bowler Ajmal Shahzad and Kent off-spinner James Tredwell - were named in a 16-man Test squad, while Shahzad and Tredwell were also selected in a 15-man one-day squad.

England will play three one-day internationals and two Tests in Bangladesh.

The tour will be preceded by two Twenty20 internationals against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, where the side will be captained by Paul Collingwood.

Selection convenor Geoff Miller said: "Andrew Strauss has provided ' outstanding leadership for the team in both forms of the game over ' the past 12 months and the selectors feel it is important that he ' takes a break ahead of an extremely busy programme of international ' cricket leading up to and including the Ashes series in Australia and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011.

"Our decision to appoint Alastair Cook to the Test vice-captaincy last year clearly demonstrated the belief that he has the potential to be a future England captain.

"Alastair will now have an opportunity to develop his leadership skills still further by leading the side in both forms of cricket in Bangladesh and I know that he is excited by the challenge and looking forward to working closely with Andy Flower."

Test squad: Alastair Cook (Essex, captain), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (Surrey, wkt), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (Sussex, wkt), Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

One-day squad: Cook (captain), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Broad, Collingwood, Joe Denly (Kent), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Prior, Pietersen, Plunkett, Shahzad, Sidebottom, Swann, Tredwell, Trott, Wright.

England schedule:

February 14 - Arrive in Dubai

17 - T20 v England Lions, Abu Dhabi

19 - First T20 v Pakistan, Dubai

20 - Second T20 v Pakistan, Dubai

23 - Bangladesh Board XI, Fatullah

25 - Bangladesh Board XI, Fatullah

28 - First ODI v Bangladesh, Dhaka

March 2 - Second ODI v Bangladesh, Dhaka

5 - Third ODI v Bangladesh, Chittagong

7-9 - Bangladesh A, Chittagong

12-16 - First Test, Chittagong

20-24 - Second Test, Dhaka