England Test captain Alastair Cook has recommended that Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Moeen Ali be rested on occasion in order to "protect" their talent.

The trio feature for the national side in all three formats of the game and were today named in the squad for England's Twenty20 World Cup in India.

"There is no right answer. But at one stage recently Rooty got very jaded and missed the one-day series against Australia," Cook, who now only features in the Test side, told The Guardian.

"Those two, plus Moeen, are dead certs in all three squads. And there's going to have to be times to take those guys out of international cricket. When it becomes a chore, you need to protect them."

England currently lead South Africa 2-1 in a five-match ODI series and will go on to play two T20 games against the Proteas before heading to India in March.