London: Jonathan Trott returned to the England squad on Wednesday, 16 months after quitting an Ashes tour early to deal with a stress-related condition that jeopardized his career.
The South African-born batsman was a steadying influence at No. 3 in England's three successive Ashes series wins from 2009-13 and rise to No. 1 in the test rankings, but went home after the first-test loss in November 2013 in Brisbane.
He was back playing for his Warwickshire county side in April but had to take another indefinite break for what he said was "burn-out," which led to him using a psychiatrist.
By the end of the summer, he totaled five centuries for Warwickshire, and was made captain of the second-string England Lions on their tour of South Africa in January and February, during which he scored an unbeaten double century.
"He is a player of proven international pedigree, and we are delighted to welcome him back into the squad," national selector James Whitaker said at the squad announcement.
Since making his test debut in 2009, Trott has scored 3,763 runs in 49 tests at an average of 46.45.
England's 16-man squad includes a recall for allrounder Ben Stokes, and three uncapped players: Opening batsman Adam Lyth and spinner Adil Rashad — two of six Yorkshire players in the party — and fast bowler Mark Wood.
Allrounder Moeen Ali was not picked because of a side strain sustained at the Cricket World Cup, which England exited at the pool stage. He may be summoned if he recovers well.
Another allrounder, Chris Woakes, was ruled out by a left foot injury, also coming at the World Cup, but was expected to be available for the two home tests against New Zealand in May.
Alastair Cook stays on as captain, having lost the position for the ODI side at the World Cup — a decision he said on Wednesday was "probably wrong."
Asked whether his confidence had been affected, Cook told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph: "I wouldn't say all of it has been, but a hell of a lot of it has been."
England won a test series against India last summer to repair some of the damage done by an Ashes whitewash in Australia at the start of last year.
"There was a good feel-good factor about the English game in the middle of August after the (India) test matches," Cook said. "Since then, it's been tough going. We've got to rebuild again."
England has two warm-up games in St. Kitts, followed by the first test from April 13-17 in Antigua. Two more tests follow in Grenada and Barbados.
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England: Alastair Cook (captain), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett, Joe Root, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Mark Wood.
