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London: Batsman Ian Bell is dropped from England's Test squad for the South Africa tour, while Gary Ballance, Nick Compton is recalled.
The five-time Ashes winner, 33, who has played 118 Tests, has not scored a Test century for 23 innings.
Batsmen Nick Compton and Gary Ballance are recalled, while uncapped left-arm pace bowler Mark Footitt and spinner Samit Patel are included and Adil Rashid is left out.
The tour starts on 15 December, with the first Test on 26 December.
England start with a warm-up game against a South African Invitational XI and will play four Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20s.
Only two England players in history have won more Test caps than Bell, who is eighth on their all-time run-scoring list.
He has averaged 25.95 in 13 matches in 2015, compared to a career average of 42.69, and has not made a century since April.
"Ian Bell has been an outstanding player for many years and undoubtedly still has plenty to offer England in the future," said national selector James Whitaker.
"It was clearly a difficult decision but he has struggled for runs in recent series and we felt that it was the right time for him to take a break and spend time working on his game out of the spotlight."
Pace bowlers Mark Wood and Steven Finn are unavailable with ankle and foot injuries respectively.
New Surrey signing Footitt, who featured in England's Ashes squad this summer, has been named in a 16-man tour party.
Uncapped opening batsman Alex Hales, an unused member of the Test squad for the recent series against Pakistan, keeps his place alongside left-arm spinner Patel.
Patel is preferred to leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who will instead play in the Big Bash, Australia's domestic Twenty20 competition.
England Test squad: Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire, wk), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Nick Compton (Middlesex), Mark Footitt (Surrey), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
In: Nick Compton, Gary Ballance, Chris Woakes, Mark Footitt
Out: Ian Bell, Mark Wood, Steven Finn, Liam Plunkett
