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 (ODI) 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.

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 —Michael Carberry, Ajmal Shahzad and 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 ODIs 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: “Strauss has provided outstanding leadership 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 Cook to the Test vice-captaincy last year clearly demonstrated the belief that he has the potential to be a future England captain.”