The provisional England squad for the ODI World Cup has been announced and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Wednesday.
The England squad includes a number of big calls, with all-rounder Ben Stokes returning to the ODI team after retiring from the format last year, and star quick Jofra Archer missing out due to injury.
Stokes, the Player of the Match in the 2019 World Cup final, had bid goodbye to the ODI format in July last year shortly after taking over as the Test captain, citing that playing all three formats of the game had become “unsustainable” for him given his fragile body and the hectic schedule.
However, the England team management wished to have him back for the World Cup title defence, and Stokes has agreed to return to the squad. He will continue to lead England in Test cricket, but will miss the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.
Archer, on the other hand, has been ruled out of the World Cup England squad after running out of time to prove his fitness.
The fast bowler has been out injured since the IPL this year due to an elbow stress fracture.
England have picked six frontline seamers in their provisional squad, but they are hoping that Archer will be available to play a part in the second half of the tournament in the event that one of them goes down again.
In addition to Stokes and Archer, the other notable omissions from the provisional squad are young batter Harry Brook and wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings.
Brook has been in excellent form in white-ball cricket in recent months, but he has only played three ODIs for England. Billings, meanwhile, has been a regular in the England T20I team, but he has not played an ODI since 2019.
Gus Atkinson, a 25-year-old fast bowler with a history of injuries, was a surprise inclusion in England's provisional World Cup squad.
He has only played 14 first-class matches, but has impressed in recent performances for Surrey in the County Championship and The Hundred. He last played a professional 50-over game two years ago.
The ECB will finalize the squad for the World Cup on September 28. The tournament will be held in India from October 5 to November 19.
The provisional England squad for the World Cup
- Jos Buttler (captain, wicket-keeper)
- Moeen Ali
- Gus Atkinson
- Jonny Bairstow (wicket-keeper)
- Sam Curran
- Liam Livingstone
- Dawid Malan
- Adil Rashid
- Joe Root
- Jason Roy
- Ben Stokes
- Reece Topley
- David Willey
- Mark Wood
- Chris Woakes
In addition to the provisional squad, the ECB also announced the following players who will be travelling to India as reserves:
- Phil Salt (wicket-keeper)
- Matt Parkinson
- Reece Topley
The reserves will be available to replace any players who are injured or ruled out of the tournament before it starts.
